A California man was sentenced Thursday to 65 months in federal prison for running a six-year operation that smuggled at least 1,700 reptiles into the United States from Mexico, Hong Kong, and other countries.
Jose Manuel Perez, of Oxnard, previously pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of smuggling goods into the United States and one count of wildlife trafficking. According to court documents, Perez and his co-conspirators operated the illicit pipeline from January 2016 to February 2022. The group bypassed federal declaration requirements and failed to obtain the international permits mandated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The operation relied heavily on social media platforms, which the defendants used to purchase the animals, negotiate sales, and organize deliveries within the United States. They also advertised the smuggled wildlife online, often posting photos and videos showing the animals being captured directly from the wild.
For the shipments originating in Mexico, co-conspirators picked up wild animals—including Yucatán box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles, and Mexican beaded lizards—at the Ciudad Juárez International Airport. From there, the animals were driven across the border to El Paso, Texas. Perez paid his couriers a “crossing fee” for each trip, which was scaled based on the volume of animals, package size, and the risk of law enforcement detection.
Perez and a co-conspirator also traveled to Mexico directly to buy wild-caught animals for the smuggling ring. Once the reptiles successfully entered the United States, they were shipped to Perez’s personal residence, located first in Missouri and later in California.
In total, authorities determined that Perez orchestrated the illegal importation of at least 1,700 animals, carrying a collective fair market value exceeding $739,000.
The 65-month sentence will be served consecutively to a separate nine-year prison sentence Perez is currently serving. That prior sentence stemmed from a May 2023 guilty plea to three counts of being a felon in possession of firearms, a restriction resulting from prior felony convictions in Ventura County Superior Court for street terrorism and assault with a deadly weapon.
The sentencing announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California, and Assistant Director Doug Ault of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Office of Law Enforcement.
The USFWS led the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, the ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner of the ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section, alongside Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. O’Brien and Juan M. Rodriguez for the Central District of California.
READ: Putting A LEASH On Animal Abusers: Florida Rep. Greg Steube Eyes National Felony Cruelty Registry
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox
