A Chinatown store owner who was arrested last year for selling an

A Chinatown store owner who was arrested last year for selling an illegal pesticide from China that sickened at least one person pleaded guilty last week in federal court. World Journal covered the story, and the article is translated from Chinese below.

Cheng Yan Huang, who was arrested and prosecuted for selling illegal pesticide last year, pleaded guilty on Monday and admitted to selling at least 2010 unauthorized bags of the substance. He will face the maximum punishment, which includes a $25,000 fine and a year in jail. The sentencing will take place on August 14.

Last year, on September 14, Huang’s shop was one of 14 suspected places that were raided by the police for selling illegal pesticides. Most of the raids took place in Chinatown, and more than 6,000 bags of illegal pesticide were confiscated. About 12 Chinese suspects were prosecuted. Among them were Huang, of Manhattan, and Jai Ping Chen, who lives in Flushing. The 10 other suspects who were arrested live in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, and range from 34 to 56 years old. Most of them were charged with the illegal sale of an unauthorized substance and reckless endangerment. Almost all of them have pleaded guilty. Some will face probation or a fine amounting to thousands of dollars.

According to court records, in December of 2010, a customer purchased a rodent poison imported from China whose name means “The Cat Be Unemployed,” and experienced health problems. The pesticide was a blue liquid that was not approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. It did not have a warning sign, and it contained 61 percent more of a certain chemical agent than regular pesticides.

Court records also indicate that between July and August of 2011, Huang and Chen allegedly sold FBI agents 4,500 bags of the illegal pesticide. Huang said that he sold the products in his store in Chinatown and that Chen, along with others, were in charge of the delivery. Law enforcement later found 800 bags of pesticide in the store and thousands of such bags in Huang’s home.

DNAinfo also covered Huang’s trial last week and provided this additional quote from Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“Cheng Yan Huang literally peddled poison for profit, exposing untold numbers of people to extremely toxic chemicals in the process,” said Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

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