Man arrested for smuggling reptiles to other countries while carrying them in his pants

• Jose Manuel Perez orchestrated the six-year scam from his house in southern California.
• Species he netted include Yucatan box turtles, Mexican box turtles and juvenile crocodiles.
• His downfall occurred in March when he attempted to drive out of Mexico with sixty insects concealed in his groyne and other garments.

Officials said Wednesday that a man who put snakes and lizards in his pants while attempting to smuggle them into the US as part of a $750,000 smuggling operation of reptiles faces decades in jail.

Jose Manuel Perez orchestrated the six-year scam from his house in southern California, which involved importing 1,700 animals from Mexico and Hong Kong into the United States.

Perez admitted in a plea agreement with the Department of Justice that he had paid mules to convey some of his contraband and had crossed the border personally on other occasions.

The species he netted, including Yucatan box turtles, Mexican box turtles, juvenile crocodiles, and Mexican beaded lizards, were sold to buyers across the country for more than $739,000, according to papers.

His downfall occurred in March when he attempted to drive out of Mexico with sixty insects concealed in his groyne and other garments.

After telling customs officials he was smuggling his pet lizards in his pockets, sixty reptiles were discovered on him.

They included arboreal alligator lizards and Isthmian dwarf boas, a type of snake whose defensive mechanism involves bleeding from the eyes.

Three of the reptiles had passed away.

On December 1, Perez will be sentenced for two counts of smuggling, each of which carries a possible prison term of 20 years, and one crime of wildlife trafficking, which carries a maximum prison term of five years.

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