A Chinese national living in California has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle hundreds of endangered and vulnerable turtles from the United States to China, according to federal prosecutors. The Justice Department announced that 30-year-old Yuan Xie participated in a scheme with another Chinese national, Xiao Dong Qin, that would see 769 live turtles smuggled into China. The crime occurred between May 2017 and October 2018, court documents said. The live turtles purchased by Xie from reptile dealers across the country are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the department said. His arrest came following a two-year investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which found that Xie facilitated the purchase and transportation of approximately 134 Florida box turtles, 178 eastern box turtles, 127 North American wood turtles, 220 spotted turtles, 77 diamondback terrapins, 25 three-toed box turtles, seven yellow-blotched map turtles, and one Blanding’s turtle from …