Yes, my fascination with animal smuggling continues. Here is a press release from the Department of Justice. In this case, a Japanese national pleaded (n.b. not "pled") guilty to turtle and tortoise smuggling when Customs and Border Protection found 55 live animals packaged as snack food in his luggage. Of course, they may well have been snack food. But, once you violate the Convention on International Traffic in Endangered Species, it does not matter what you planned to do with the creatures. On the issue of the past tense of plead, Bryan Garner notes that both pled and plead have gained some credence as proper usage in American English (which is what I speak). But, Garner states that pleaded is the predominant form, and that is good enough for me. I know that because Garner quotes me as a usage example in A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, 667 (2d. ed): "No case was to be pleaded at Superior Court for less than a three pounds fee . . . ." Lawrence M. Friedma