A mother and son go to prison for wildlife smuggling scheme

By Michael Doyle | 10/17/2024 01:19 PM EDT

Prosecutors say the operation involved smuggling tigers, panthers, monkeys and parrots into the United States.

Spider monkeys sit in a tree in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve of Mexico.

Spider monkeys sit in a tree in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a protected natural area in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, on Jan. 10, 2023. Marco Ugarte/AP

A mother-and-son pair of admitted wildlife smugglers will each be spending more than a year in federal prison for their roles in a multispecies endeavor.

Raymond Anthony Rabago Montoya, 23, of Phoenix was sentenced earlier this month to 12 months and one day in prison. His mother, Griselda Guadalupe Montoya-Gastelum, 50, of Sonora, Mexico, was previously sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Both will also face three years of supervised release following their incarceration. Both pleaded guilty to a single wildlife-related charge, following a Fish and Wildlife Service investigation of a smuggling operation that prosecutors say involved tigers, panthers, monkeys and exotic parrots into the United States.

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Wildlife trafficking is illegal and immoral, as countless animals that are taken from the wild are smuggled across borders in inhumane conditions,” Edward Grace, assistant director of the FWS Office of Law Enforcement, said in a statement Wednesday.

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