A Hacienda Heights man is among six Southern Californians indicted Wednesday following a federal sting targeting online sales of endangered species.
Rene De La Peza, 42, of Hacienda Heights, is accused of selling the skin of a jaguar, which is an endangered species, to an undercover agent for $15,000, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rupa Goswami said.
Jaguars, the largest cat found in the Americas, has been on the endangered species list for four decades, officials said. If convicted as charges, De La Peza faces up to a year in federal prison.
Five other defendants have been indicted in Southern California through “Operation Wild Web,” Goswami said.
Nationwide, the bust netted 131 arrested in the United States, and seven internationally, the prosecutor added.
Operation Wild Web was designed to disrupt the trafficking of illegal wildlife on the Internet,” U.S. Attorney’s Office Thom Mrozek said in a written statement. “Across the United States, the Wild Web task force conducted more than 150 undercover purchases of endangered wildlife over the course of two weeks last August,” Mrozek added.
Items sold ranged from bear skins to parts from Javan eagles, officials said.
While the trade of endangered animals and their parts is not new, Goswami said the growing online market is now increasingly flooded with the illicit items.
“The ease and the anonymity of the Internet allows these sales to increase,” she said.
Also indicted in Southern California Thursday were:
*Hanna Karim, 44, and his wife Margarita Licomitros, both of Huntington Beach, on suspicion of selling a Sumatran tiger pelt
*Michael Roy McIntire, 59, of Encino, on suspicion of selling three protected birds — a canvasback, a cinnamon teal and a mallard
*Rodrigo Macedo, 29, of Hesperia, on suspicion of selling two protected Western Scrub Jays
*Lewis Keister, 42, of Los Angeles, on suspicion of selling a pair of seal fur moccasins, as well as a Native American doll believed to be made from whale bone and a bag made of seal fur
De La Peza and the other defendants were ordered to appear in federal court for arraignment Aug. 8.
“Hopefully, (Operation Wild Web) will help keep endangered animals safe in the wild,” Goswami said.