California man caught entering US with 60 reptiles under his clothes handed five year sentence for smuggling

A California man who smuggled at least 1,700 animals into the U.S. over the course of six years has been sentenced to more than five years in prison. Jose Manuel Perez was caught in 2022 and allegedly had 60 reptiles hidden underneath his clothes.

Perez, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of smuggling goods into the United States and one count of wildlife trafficking according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Perez was sentenced to 65 months in prison for his offence on May 28.

Smuggling reptiles into the U.S. is no easy feat but Perez and his co-conspirators were able carry out their operation for six years. Perez was eventually arrested in February 2022 after being caught trying to get into the U.S. with an assortment of approximately 60 reptiles which were hidden in bags underneath his clothes according to CBS. At the time of his arrest he allegedly claimed that the animals were pets of his.

According to the press release Perez and his co-conspirators allegedly used social media to run an animal smuggling operation where they would negotiate the sale and delivery of wildlife in the U.S. The animals were smuggled from Mexico, Hong Kong, and elsewhere without the permits which are required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The animals were then advertised online with photos and videos of them being collected from the wild.

All kinds of animals were smuggled in

Investigators estimated that Perez and his fellow animal traffickers made around $739,000. Perez and the others allegedly sold around 1,700 animals over the course of six years between 2016 and 2022. The animals trafficked to the U.S. in included Yucatán box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards as per the press release.

For the animals from Mexico, co-conspirators would retrieve the wildlife from Cuidad Juárez International Airport in Mexico and ship them to El Paso, Texas. Perez would pay them depending on the amount of animals smuggled, size of the package, and the risk of being caught.

Sometimes Perez and a co-conspirator would travel to Mexico to purchase more animals that had been caught in the wild in order to smuggle them into the U.S. Once in the U.S the animals were taken to Perez’s residence.

Jose Manuel Perez is already serving nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty in 2023 to “three counts of being a felon in possession of firearms,” according to the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. His latest sentence for the animal smuggling offenses will see him serve another 65 months in prison.