Southern California man who smuggled more than 1,700 reptiles into U.S. sentenced to prison
A Southern California man who previously pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 1,700 reptiles into the United States from Mexico, which he claimed were his pets, was sentenced to more than five years in prison on Thursday.
Jose Manuel Perez, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of smuggling goods into the U.S. and one count of wildlife trafficking in August 2022, months after he was arrested when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found dozens of lizards and snakes tied up in small bags that he had concealed in his jacket, pants pockets and his groin area while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in San Ysidro, authorities said at the time.
When pleading guilty, Perez, who used the alias "Julio Rodriguez," admitted to smuggling more than 1,700 wild animals into the U.S. over a six-year period, prosecutors said at the time.
The plea agreement, which was filed in Los Angeles federal court, said that Perez and his accomplices, which included his sister, used social media to arrange the details of the smuggling operation from 2016 to 2022.
The smuggled animals, which were imported from both Hong Kong and Mexico without permits, included Mexican beaded lizards, Mexican box turtles and Yucatan box turtles and baby crocodiles, prosecutors said.
They were initially taken to El Paso, Texas and then transported to Perez's then-home in Missouri, in the early stages of the operation, but upon moving to Oxnard in Ventura County, they began orchestrating the shipments there. Federal prosecutors said that the animals were imported without obtaining the necessary permits through CITES, or the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
"In total, Perez caused the illegal smuggling and importation of at least 1,700 animals with a fair market value of more than $739,000," the news release from the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Federal prosecutors said that Perez is currently serving a nine-year sentence after pleading guilty in May 2023 to three counts of being a felon in possession of firearms, because his criminal record includes felony convictions of street terrorism and assault with a deadly weapon in Ventura County.
