WASHINGTON, May 28 -- The U.S. Department of Justice's U.S. Attorney's office for XXXXXX (insert district) issued the following press release:
LOS ANGELES - A Ventura County man who smuggled at least 1,700 reptiles from Mexico to the United States over a six-year period was sentenced today to 65 months in federal prison.
Jose Manuel Perez, 34, of Oxnard, was sentenced by United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin.
Perez pleaded guilty in August 2022 to two counts of smuggling goods into the United States and one count of wildlife trafficking.
From January 2016 and to February 2022, Perez and other co-conspirators smuggled wildlife into the United States from Mexico and elsewhere, including Hong Kong, without obtaining the permits r...