Oxnard man charged with smuggling 1,700 reptiles into the U.S., including in his clothes: DOJ

An Oxnard man was charged Thursday after allegedly illegally importing greater than 1,700 reptiles into the USA, together with 60 discovered hidden in his garments final month on the nation’s border with Mexico.

Jose Manuel Perez, a.ok.a. “Julio Rodriguez,” 30, was charged in a superseding indictment with one depend of conspiracy, 9 counts of smuggling items into the USA and two counts of wildlife trafficking, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Central District of California mentioned in a information launch.

Perez is anticipated to be arraigned on Monday in U.S. District Court docket in Los Angeles.

His 25-year-old sister, Stephany Perez, can also be charged within the indictment with conspiracy and might be directed to look for an arraignment within the coming weeks, based on the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace.

The superseding indictment returned Thursday provides allegations to an indictment initially filed on Feb. 24.

The brand new allegations embrace 14 overt acts within the conspiracy cost, together with some accusing Jose Perez of crossing into the U.S. from Mexico by automobile on the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Feb. 25 with roughly 60 reptiles – together with dozens of lizards and 4 snakes – hid inside his jacket pockets, pants pockets, groin space and pant legs, the information launch states.

Perez initially denied to customs officers that he had something to declare however later informed them that “the animals had been his pets,” the indictment obtained by the Division of Justice alleges.

From January 2016 to February 2022, the Perez siblings and their co-conspirators used social media to purchase and to barter the phrases of the sale and supply of wildlife within the U.S., based on the indictment. They allegedly marketed on social media animals smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. on the market, posting pictures and video that depicted the animals being collected from the wild.

The animals – which included Yucatan field turtles, Mexican field turtles, child crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards – allegedly had been imported into the nation from Mexico and Hong Kong with out acquiring permits required by a global treaty referred to as the Conference on the Worldwide Commerce of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned.

For the animals allegedly smuggled from Mexico, co-conspirators would retrieve the wildlife from Cuidad Juarez Worldwide Airport in Mexico and ultimately ship the animals by automobile to El Paso, Texas, the information launch says.

Perez paid his co-conspirators a “crossing payment” for every border crossing – the quantity of which relied on the variety of animals transported, the dimensions of the package deal and the danger of being detected by authorities.

On different events, Perez and a co-conspirator traveled to Mexico to buy further stay animals that had been taken from the wild in order that the animals may very well be smuggled into the U.S., based on the indictment.

As soon as the animals had been shipped to the U.S., they had been allegedly transported to Perez’s then-residence in Missouri. However after he moved to California, the wildlife was shipped to his residence in Ventura County.

Stephany Perez allegedly assisted within the unlawful wildlife smuggling enterprise, significantly throughout two prolonged durations when her brother was incarcerated within the U.S., the DOJ mentioned.

Jose Perez has been in federal custody since his arrest on Feb. 25.

If convicted of all fees, the defendants would face a statutory most sentence of 5 years in federal jail for the conspiracy cost. Jose Perez would face a statutory most sentence of 20 years in jail for every smuggling depend and 5 years in jail for every wildlife trafficking depend.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the matter with help from the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of California, U.S. Customs and Border Safety and Homeland Safety Investigations.