Jose Manuel Perez of Oxnard sentenced to 65 months for years-long smuggling of reptiles

LOS ANGELES (KEYT) – Jose Manuel Perez was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison after smuggling at least 1,700 reptiles from Mexico into the United States over a six-year period.

Perez pled guilty to two counts of smuggling goods into the Untied States and one count of wildlife trafficking in August of 2022 noted the First Assistant's Office for the Central District of California in a press release Thursday.

Between January of 2016 and February of 2022, Perez and other co-conspirators smuggled wildlife from Mexico and other countries without getting permits required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flores as well as without declaring any wildlife importations explained the federal prosecutor's office.

Participants in the scheme used social media to buy and negotiate the terms of the sales and deliveries into the United States and Perez advertised the sale of the animals on social media as well as photos and videos that showed the animals being taken from the wild shared the First Assistant's Office.

Animals put up for sale included Yucatán box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles, and Mexican beaded lizards noted federal prosecutors.

According to the First Assistant's Office, some animals were retrieved from Cuidad Juárez International Airport and eventually shipped by vehicle into El Paso, Texas and Perez paid co-conspirators a fee for each border crossing based on the number of animals and the risk of being detected by law enforcement.

Perez and a co-conspirator also traveled to Mexico to purchase live animals captured from the wild, smuggled them into the United States, and transported them to Perez's home in Missouri and then to his home in Oxnard detailed the First Assistant's Office.

In total, Perez facilitated the smuggling of at least 1,700 animals, generating sales of more than $739,000 stated the federal prosecutor's office.

Perez is already serving a nine-year sentence for being a felon in possession of firearms in connection with prior felony convictions for street terrorism and assault with a deadly weapon in Ventura County noted the First Assistant's Office.