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FORMER USDA PLANT PROTECTION OFFICER CHARGED WITH PERMITTING PESTS TO ENTER COUNTRY CONVICTED
(LAREDO, Texas) – Robert Perez, a former United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) plant protection and quarantine (PPQ) officer, charged with permitting trucks carrying agricultural products into the United States without proper fumigation, has been convicted, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.
At a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Adriana Arce-Flores this morning, Perez, 35, of Laredo, pleaded guilty to a criminal information in which he was charged with violating Section 7734(a)(1)(A) and 7711 of the Plant Protection Act, a misdemeanor offense carrying a maximum punishment of one year imprisonment and a $100,000 fine. Perez admitted that on July 22, 2007, while serving as a PPQ officer with the USDA, he gave consent to a freight forwarding company/customs broker allowing a truck carrying floral greenery infested with a plant pest to leave Laredo, for sale or distribution knowing the floral greenery had not been properly fumigated. Judge Arce-Flores accepted Perez’s guilty plea and set sentencing for Oct. 1, 2008. Perez has been permitted to remain free on bond pending his sentence.
Perez was originally charged along Jose Homero Reyes, 48, also a former USDA PPQ officer, and Arturo Ramirez, 46, of Laredo, the owner of Ambush Exterminators, a pest control service located in Laredo. Both Reyes and Ramirez have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to permit infested agricultural products to enter the United States from Mexico and to the substantive counts of permitting infested agricultural products to enter the United States from Mexico. Both men remain free on bond pending their sentencing set for Nov. 24, 2008.
The investigation leading to the charges was a joint investigation by the FBI’s Public Corruption Task Force and the USDA - Office of Inspector General. The Task Force includes the Laredo Police Department, Department of Homeland Security - Office of the Inspector General and CBP - Office of Internal Affairs. Special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement also assisted in the operation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sam Sheldon and James Seaman.
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