A Southern California man has been sentenced to 65 months in federal jail after authorities uncovered a years-long operation that smuggled hundreds of stay reptiles into the US from Mexico and China.
Jose Manuel Perez, 34, pleaded responsible in August 2022 to smuggling items into the nation and wildlife trafficking.
Federal prosecutors stated that from January 2016 by way of February 2022, Perez and his co-conspirators moved unlawful wildlife throughout borders with out the permits required below the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and did not declare the animals upon entry.
Investigators described a structured smuggling community that relied on coordinated pickups, transportation routes, and money funds.
Co-conspirators allegedly retrieved wildlife from Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez Worldwide Airport and transported the animals by car into El Paso, Texas.
As soon as contained in the US, the animals have been transported to Perez’s residence, first in Missouri and later in California after he relocated.
Prosecutors stated Perez and associates additionally traveled into Mexico at instances to personally buy wild-caught animals for smuggling into the US.
The species concerned included Yucatan field turtles, Mexican field turtles, child crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards.
Authorities stated the operation in the end moved at the least 1,700 animals with a mixed estimated market worth exceeding $739,000.
Officers additionally stated the trafficking enterprise leaned closely on social media.
Perez and others allegedly used on-line platforms to barter gross sales, coordinate deliveries and promote illegally obtained wildlife.
Posts reportedly included pictures and movies displaying animals being ripped from their pure habitats.
The case additionally connects to a separate incident wherein Perez was arrested on Feb. 25, 2022, on the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Based on authorities, border brokers found dozens of reptiles hidden in his clothes, jacket, pockets and even his groin space as he tried to cross into the US.
Prosecutors stated he informed officers the animals have been his pets.
A superseding indictment alleged Perez labored alongside a community of middlemen, together with his sister Stephany, to facilitate the smuggling operation over a number of years.
On the time of sentencing, Perez was already serving a nine-year federal jail time period after pleading responsible in Might 2023 to a number of counts of being a felon in possession of firearms.
He’s prohibited from proudly owning weapons because of prior felony convictions in Ventura County Superior Courtroom, together with road terrorism and assault with a lethal weapon.
The investigation was led by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, with help from the US Customs and Border Safety and Homeland Safety Investigations.
