San Diego
A federal magistrate Monday refused to set bail for a Tijuana businessman who government officials say is a major supplier of parrots smuggled from Mexico.
Magistrate Barry Moskowitz ordered Jose Jesus Gomez-Valdovinos, who operates a retail shop in Tijuana, held without bail pending his trial on charges that he smuggled hundreds of baby yellow-naped Amazon parrots into this country between January and April.
Prosecutors claim that Gomez-Valdovinos, 44, is one of the primary Mexican suppliers in the thriving smuggling trade that produces large numbers of the popular, colorful birds for sale in the United States.
Arguing for the defendant’s detention without bail, Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles S. Crandall said Monday that a review of cases dating to 1982 and involving 30 separate defendants indicates that Gomez-Valdovinos was a source of parrots in every one. Altogether, those cases account for the smuggling of 2,500 to 3,000 parrots, Crandall said.
Yellow-naped Amazon parrots, in high demand as pets because of their intelligence and mimicking talents, are protected under an international treaty because of their dwindling numbers in the wild. A single bird can fetch $1,000.
Gomez-Valdovinos and his employee, Fernando Rojas-Villanueva, were arrested by undercover federal agents on Halloween in Chula Vista while attempting to obtain $20,000 in back payments for parrots. Each of the defendants faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5-million fine.
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