A California man was sentenced May 28 to more than five years in prison for smuggling at least 1,700 reptiles into the United States from Mexico, Hong Kong, and other foreign countries over the course of six years, federal prosecutors said.

Jose Manuel Perez, 34, of Oxnard, Calif., pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of smuggling goods into the United States and one count of wildlife trafficking.

Prosecutors allege Perez and other co-conspirators smuggled goods about 36 times into the United States from January 2016 to February 2022.

Perez was arrested while attempting to enter the United States with 60 reptiles hidden in his clothing in small bags, prosecutors said.

“Three of the reptiles died during his smuggling attempt,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles stated in August 2022.

On May 16, 2022, Perez was released on bond by the court. On June 5, a day before a court hearing, Perez removed the ankle bracelet used by the court to monitor his location and fled to Tijuana, according to prosecutors. He was apprehended by authorities in Mexico and returned to the United States later that day.

Perez has remained in custody since then, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The defendants allegedly brought in the wildlife without getting the proper permits required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and without declaring any wildlife when entering the United States

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Perez and his co-conspirators used social media to buy and negotiate sales and delivery of the wildlife into the United States. The defendants allegedly advertised the sale of the animals on social media and smuggled them from Mexico into the country.

Jose Manuel Perez, 34, of Oxnard, Calif., pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of smuggling goods into the U.S. and one count of wildlife trafficking. (U.S. Department of Justice)

The smugglers allegedly posted photos and videos on social media showing the animals being collected from the wild, according to prosecutors.

In Mexico, Perez’s co-conspirators allegedly collected Yucatan box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles, and Mexican beaded lizards from Cuidad Juarez International Airport in Mexico. The wildlife was then shipped from Cuidad Juarez International Airport in Mexico by car to El Paso, Texas.

Prosecutors say Perez paid his co-conspirators a “crossing fee” for each border crossing depending on the number of animals transported, the size of the packages, and the risk of being detected by authorities.

Perez and his co-conspirators were also accused of traveling to Mexico to buy live animals that had been taken from the wild so the animals could be smuggled to the United States.

Once the wildlife was shipped to the United States, they were transported to Perez’s home, originally in Missouri, and then to California after he moved there, prosecutors said.

In all, Perez was accused of causing the illegal smuggling and importation of at least 1,700 animals with a market value of more than $739,000.

Before the sentencing, Perez was serving a nine-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in May 2023 to three counts of being a felon in possession of firearms.

He is not legally permitted to possess firearms because he was previously convicted of street terrorism and assault with a deadly weapon in Ventura County Superior Court.

Perez challenged his firearm conviction in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which was affirmed in part and reversed in part, remanding his sentencing back to the district court.