Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP
A California man was charged on Thursday with smuggling more than 1,700reptilesinto the United States from Mexico and Hong Kong since 2016, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles announced in apress release.
Last month, Jose Manuel Perez, also known as Julio Rodriguez, was found at the United States-Mexico border with 60 reptiles — including dozens of lizards and foursnakes— concealed inside his jacket pockets, groin area, and pant legs, officials said.
Perez, 30, allegedly told customs officials that “the animals were his pets.”
He is charged with one count of conspiracy, nine counts of smuggling goods into the United States, and two counts of wildlife trafficking, the press release stated.
His sister Stephany Perez is also facing charges of conspiracy in the case. She allegedly assisted with the smuggling business, particularly when her brother was incarcerated, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The Perez siblings and their co-conspirators are accused of using “social media to buy and to negotiate the terms of the sale and delivery of wildlife in the United States” from January 2016 to February 2022, according to the press release.
They are accused of posting ads on social media to sell the smuggled animals and of using photos and videos that depict the animals being collected in the wild.
Perez allegedly would pay his co-conspirators to pick up the wildlife from Cuidad Juarez International Airport in Mexico and then bring the animals to El Paso, Texas. He is accused of paying them a “crossing fee” to bring animals over the border.
Once the animals had arrived in the U.S., they were allegedly transported to Perez’s then-residence in Missouri and later to his new home in Oxnard, California.
Jose Perez has been in federal custody since his arrest on February 25 and is expected to be arraigned on Monday.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each smuggling count and five years in prison for each wildlife trafficking count, officials said.
source: people.com
