A man who hid snakes and lizards in his pants while trying to smuggle them into the United States as part of a $750,000 reptile smuggling operation faces decades in prison, officials said Wednesday.
Jose Manuel Perez managed the six-year program from his home in Southern California, which brought 1,700 animals to the United States from Mexico and Hong Kong.
In a plea deal with the Justice Department, Perez admitted he had paid mules to transport some of his illegal cargo and at other times made border crossings himself.
The animals he caught, including Yucatan box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards, were sold to customers across the country for over $739,000, documents show.
His downfall came in March when he attempted to drive out of Mexico with 60 creatures secreted around his groin and other parts of his clothing.
After initially telling customs officials that he was carrying his pet lizards in his bags, he was found to have 60 reptiles with him.
These included arboreal alligator lizards and Isthmian pygmy boas, a species of snake that changes color and whose defense mechanisms include bleeding from the eyes.
Three of the reptiles were dead.
Perez, who admitted to two counts of smuggling, each carrying up to 20 years in prison, and one of wildlife trafficking, carrying a maximum of five years in prison, will be sentenced on December 1.
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