Animals
Prison For California Man Who Smuggled 1,700 Reptiles Worth $739,000 Into US
A California man was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for smuggling “at least” 1,700 reptiles into the country from Mexico, officials said.
Jose Manuel Perez, 34, of Oxnard, pleaded guilty in 2022 to two counts of smuggling goods into the United States and one count of wildlife trafficking. He was sentenced Thursday to 65 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Prosecutors say Perez and his co-conspirators smuggled wildlife from Mexico and other locations, including Hong Kong, into the U.S. from January 2016 to February 2022. They did not obtain permits required under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the importations were not declared as wildlife.
For animals smuggled from Mexico, co-conspirators retrieved the animals from Mexico’s Cuidad Juárez International Airport, then transported them by car to El Paso, Texas. Perez paid the co-conspirators a “fee” for each border crossing, with amounts varying depending on the number of animals, size of the package, and risk of detection.
In some instances, Perez and a co-conspirator traveled to Mexico to purchase wildlife to be smuggled into the U.S. Once the animals entered the U.S., they were transported to Perez’s then-residence in Missouri. After he moved to California, they were transported to his Ventura County residence.
The smuggled species included Yucatán box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards.
The smuggled animals, of which there were “at least” 1,700, had a fair market value of more than $739,000, according to prosecutors. The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Perez is already serving a separate nine-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2023 to three counts of being a felon in possession of firearms. He was barred from possessing firearms after felony convictions for street terrorism and assault with a deadly weapon in Ventura County.
