LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man who smuggled more than 1,700 wild animals into the United States, including 60 reptiles hidden in his clothing, pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges.
Jose Manuel Perez, 30, of Oxnard, entered pleas to 2 counts of smuggling & a charge of wildlife trafficking.
Prosecutors said that from 2016 to this February, Perez & his accomplices used social media to arrange to smuggle animals from Mexico & Hong Kong. Most were reptiles & included Yucatan box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles & Mexican beaded lizards.
It is illegal to import the animals without permits under an international treaty on the trade of endangered species.
Perez paid accomplices a crossing fee to drive animals from Mexico to El Paso, Texas, where he had them shipped to his family’s Ventura County home & resold them to customers throughout the U.S.
He also made some 3 dozen trips to Mexico himself to pick up animals & on Feb. 25 he was arrested while trying to enter the U.S. with 60 reptiles hidden in bags of his clothing. 3 of the reptiles died.
The smuggled reptiles were worth about $739,000.
Perez fled to Tijuana in June while out on bond but was quickly captured & returned to the U.S. He could face up to 20 years in federal prison for each smuggling count when he’s sentenced on Dec. 1.
#joseperez #joseperezanimalsmuggler #joseperezcalifornia #wildanimals #reptiles #endangeredspecies #hongkong #mexico #joseperezpleadsguilty #turtles #snakes #crocodiles #beadedlizard #yucatanboxturtle #mexicanbeadedlizard #mexicanboxturtle #wildlifetrafficking #smuggling #guiltyascharged #prison #federalprison #lizard #unitedstates #america #usa #caughtredhanded
Follow Me
}
Comments