{"id":866,"date":"2026-05-29T21:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T21:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=866"},"modified":"2026-05-29T21:30:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T21:30:06","slug":"oxnard-man-smuggled-baby-crocodiles-among-1700-reptiles-gets-5-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=866","title":{"rendered":"Oxnard man smuggled baby crocodiles, among 1,700 reptiles, gets 5 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>An Oxnard man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for smuggling at least 1,700 reptiles worth more than $739,000 into the U.S. over six years, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=864\">Louisiana\u2019s Legislature has passed a new congressional map to give the GOP another seat<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The animals, including baby crocodiles and Yucat\u00e1n box turtles, were bought and sold over social media and came from Mexico, Hong Kong and elsewhere, an investigation led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revealed.<\/p>\n<p>From January 2016 to February 2022, Perez and co-conspirators brought in wild animals without the permits required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora \u2014 and without declaring them, the Justice Department said. <\/p>\n<p>In August 2022, Jose Manuel Perez pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of smuggling goods into the country and one count of wildlife trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>The animals smuggled from Mexico were advertised on social media, with defendants posting photos and videos of the reptiles being captured in the wild.<\/p>\n<p>People working with Perez would collect the reptiles including Mexican box turtles and Mexican beaded lizards, at from an airport in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, then move them by car over the border to El Paso.<\/p>\n<p>According to federal authorities, Perez paid people a \u201ccrossing fee\u201d each time they traversed the border. Payment depended on how many animals they trafficked, the size of the package and the level of risk they faced.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=862\">As Compton students ace tests, educators are baffled by Rep. Maxine Waters\u2019 snub of school bond<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes Perez and another person would traveled to Mexico to buy animals taken from the wild to smuggle into the U.S. Once shipped, they were transported to Perez\u2019s home, in Missouri and then California after he moved there.<\/p>\n<p>When the sentence came down, Perez was already serving nine years for felony possession of firearms. Due to convictions in Ventura County Superior Court for \u201cstreet terrorism\u201d and assault with a deadly weapon, he is not allowed to have firearms, the department said. <\/p>\n<p>According to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, illegal wildlife trafficking is the second-largest threat to species after habitat loss and the world\u2019s fourth-most-lucrative trafficking industry. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIllegal wildlife trafficking not only diminishes the populations of targeted wildlife species, it also impacts related species, their interconnected ecosystem, local and global economies, and has the potential to impact the health of people through zoonotic disease transmission,\u201d the alliance says on its website. <\/p>\n<p>Reptiles get caught in the fray. Earlier this month, the Justice Department announced that a Daly City man suspected of purchasing and exporting hundreds of poached turtles from Florida was facing federal wildlife trafficking charges. <\/p>\n<p>The U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the Southern District of California and a section of the Justice Department\u2019s Environment and Natural Resources Division, along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations, assisted federal wildlife officials with the investigation into Perez\u2019s dealings. The case was prosecuted in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=860\">To combat copper thefts, L.A. city agency seeks its own armed police force<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jose Manuel Perez trafficked reptiles worth more than $739,000 into the U.S. from Mexico and Hong Kong, using social media to make deals, according to federal officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Oxnard man smuggled baby crocodiles, among 1,700 reptiles, gets 5 years - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=866\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oxnard man smuggled baby crocodiles, among 1,700 reptiles, gets 5 years - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jose Manuel Perez trafficked reptiles worth more than $739,000 into the U.S. from Mexico and Hong Kong, using social media to make deals, according to federal officials.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=866\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T21:30:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"Oxnard man smuggled baby crocodiles, among 1,700 reptiles, gets 5 years\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T21:30:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866\"},\"wordCount\":542,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/af17263aa7275e659c46396cb97a8bbc.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Climate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866\",\"name\":\"Oxnard man smuggled baby crocodiles, among 1,700 reptiles, gets 5 years - 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Jose Manuel Perez was sentenced yesterday to 65 months in prison for smuggling at least 1,700 reptiles into the United States from Mexico, Hong Kong, and elsewhere over a six-year period.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=866#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Oxnard man smuggled baby crocodiles, among 1,700 reptiles, gets 5 years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"California Relocation Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"California Relocation Journal\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/cj.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/cj.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"California Relocation Journal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oxnard man smuggled baby crocodiles, among 1,700 reptiles, gets 5 years - 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