A tip to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service kicked off a years-long investigation that recently concluded in a Phoenix man and his mother sentenced to prison for their part in the illegal import of exotic animals through U.S.-Mexico border ports into Arizona.
Raymond Anthony Rabago Montoya, 23, received a year and a day in prison, plus supervised release for three more years.
The federal investigation eventually led to a January 2023 search of a home, where agents found a tiger cub, an alligator, turtles and other reptiles. Snapchat messages linked Rabago Montoya’s mother, who received a prison sentence earlier this year, to the homeowner’s work in also illegally trading wildlife.
Griselda Guadalupe Montoya-Gastelum and her son were also selling animals like spider monkeys on Facebook. Undercover agents purchased two in the spring and caught Rabago Montoya with dozens of endangered parrots in his vehicle, many of which were dead.
Part of his sentence includes a mandatory $3,000 payment to a conservation fund.
Full statement from United States Attorney for District of Arizona Gary Restaino:
“Once again we see Arizonans profiting from the concealment of contraband through the Nogales and Lukeville Ports of Entry. Here, in lieu of controlled substances we have mistreated protected animals, and the sentences imposed send strong messages both of deterrence and of the importance of robust environmental protections.”
