Share this article:The owner of a Hollywood-area curio shop that specializes in taxidermy, animal skulls and bones is expected to plead not guilty Monday to charges involving the illegal importation of protected seahorses and bat skulls.

Nancy Delap Smith and her Melrose Avenue store Necromance are each charged with three misdemeanor counts of violating the federal Endangered Species Act by knowingly importing the seahorses and bat skulls in 2011 without the proper permits, according to court documents.

A call left at the store for Smith was not immediately returned.

“The laws are designed to protect plant and wildlife that is threatened,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Mitchell. “In this case, documentation is needed to bring these items into the country.”

Smith is expected to enter her plea before a magistrate judge in downtown Los Angeles and a trial date will be set.

— City News Service

Bat-skull importer at Necromance faces endangered-species charges was last modified: by

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