Man Gets Six-Month Sentence For Smuggling Tarantulas

   LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A German man has been sentenced in Los Angeles to six months in federal prison for bringing hundreds of tarantulas into the United States by mail.

   U.S. District Judge S. James Otero sentenced 37-year-old Sven Koppler of Wachtberg, Germany, on Monday. Koppler also must pay $4,000 in fines and will be placed on three years of probation.

   Koppler earlier this year pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling goods into the U.S.

   Federal prosecutors say Koppler mailed more than 240 live tarantulas from Germany to Los Angeles last year. Fish and Wildlife Service agents intercepted the packages then posed as customers and ordered dozens more spiders, including a protected Mexican species.

   Authorities say Koppler made nearly $350,000 by selling spiders to people in dozens of countries.

   (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)