July 10, 2017 By Christian Murray
A Long Island City-based art dealer art has been charged for selling items containing elephant ivory.
Robert Rogal, 70, who owns a 10,000 square foot art gallery at 47-15 36th Streets, sold a ballerina sculpture made of ivory to two undercover investigators. His sales person, Jaime Villamarin, 45, was also charged. The two defendants face up to four years in prison if convicted.
“The arrest of these two individuals should send a strong message that illegally selling artifacts made from the ivory tusks of threatened elephants will not be tolerated in Queens County,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A Brown in a statement. “Buyers of such items should also be especially cautious and only buy from licensed retailers. Otherwise, they may be indirectly contributing to the extinction of one of the world’s most magnificent animals – the elephant.”
According to the charges, the two investigators made an appointment to visit Ro Gallery, known for selling paintings, photographs and sculptures produced by thousands of artists.
The investigators met Villamarin on May 30 and were shown two ballerina sculptures—allegedly made with ivory. Villamarin allegedly said: “These are ivory, but we don’t list them as such because you can’t sell ivory,” according to the District Attorney’s office.
An investigator later followed up via e-mail, was quoted a price and came back to the gallery on June 14 and paid $2,612 in cash for one of the ballerina sculptures. Rogal, the owner, then showed the investigators another piece—priced at $3,600—and allegedly stated: “I believe it is ivory” and “they don’t even allow the sale of them [ivory].”
The investigators left the gallery with the ballerina they bought and got it examined. Experts determined that it was made of ivory.
The investigators obtained a search warrant and raided the gallery on Thursday, July 6. They recovered several sculptures made with ivory, as well as artifacts believed to be made from the tooth of a sperm whale and the skin of crocodiles, according to the District Attorney’s office. Forensic analysis is pending.
Rogal, who lives on East 74th Street in Manhattan, and Vallamarin, from Brooklyn, were released on their own recognizance and ordered to return to court on August 29.
“Aggressively cracking down on the illegal market for ivory will help bring an end to the slaughtering of elephants and send a clear message that we will not allow this trade to continue in New York,” Brown said.
Source: Yelp
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7 Comments
Wow good for Queens! Poor elephants!
Excellent — I’m thrilled they’re cracking down on this merciless market — criminals who engage in such a brutal & cruel racket NEED to get some standards — our magnificent elephants MUST be protected.
The Art world has always been corrupt. Artist hate to admit it. But success in the art world always means you have to put on your Kneepads and accept shady dealings.
If they are Antique over 100 years old they are most likely not illegal. There are very complex laws and lots of exemptions. Not all ivory is from Elephants either. They can come from mammoth, walrus, hippopotamus, sperm whale, killer whale, narwhal and wart hog. Elk also have two ivory teeth. So lets see how this ends up. Could be scammers trying to pass off legal Ivory as illegal Ivory for an inflated price.
You are ?% correct about the antique ivory and it must have original paperwork to be sold. Mammoth tusk which is most often used to make Jewelry is against the law in New York State. It was put into place over a year ago. The wooly mammoths have been dead over 10,500 years. They became extinct and because the ice caps have been melting for years now,tusks have been rising to the surface. I’ve been in retail sales for 23 years and we had to send back any jewelry made of this to the designers that made it.,They just caught today at the airport in China someone bringing in a huge shipment. It’s not illegal there but it was undeclared and they got caught!
What’s LEGAL in China? or, better yet, what’s ILLEGAL in China? — from my readings, pressure is on Chinese authorities to crack down on this unconscionable horrific racket & to some extent, I believe they’re actually doing something about this evil, hateful trade — let’s not forget, big cat teeth, rhino horns, etc. are also traded — this brutal gang of depraved, hateful, irrational individuals MUST be STOPPED.
This jerk should be prosecuted to the FULL extent of the LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!