Environmental Crimes Bulletin - October 2025

View All Environmental Crimes Bulletins

In This Issue:

• Cases by District/Circuit
• Trials
• Recently Charged
• Guilty Pleas
• Sentencings

Cases by District/Circuit

Trials

United States v. Daniel Acosta Hoffman, et al.

• No. 2:24-CR-00761 (Central District of California)
• AUSA Amanda Elbogen
• AUSA Colin Scott

On October 20, 2025, following a five-day trial, a jury convicted Daniel Acosta Hoffman of conspiracy to unlawfully remove customs seals and to commit smuggling. Acosta was also convicted of unlawful removal of custom seals and smuggling (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 549, 545). Sentencing is scheduled for December 29, 2025. Hoffman is one of nine defendants in a conspiracy that included logistic company executives, warehouse owners and truck drivers who smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of counterfeit and other illegal goods from China into the United States via the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. The defendants took containers flagged for off-site secondary inspection, unloaded the contraband, then stuffed the targeted containers with filler cargo to deceive customs officials and evade law enforcement.

During the investigation, investigators seized more than $130 million in contraband, and the conspirators are believed to be responsible for smuggling at least $200 million worth of goods. According to the indictment, a June 2024 search of one warehouse used by the group led to the seizure of $20 million worth of counterfeit items including shoes, perfume, luxury handbags, apparel, watches, and bulk Freon.

Recently Charged

United States v. Virdiana I. Gonzalez, et al.

• No. 5:25-CR-01564 (Southern District of Texas)
• AUSA Tory Sailer
• AUSA Melissa Lopez

On September 30, 2025, prosecutors filed an indictment charging Virdiana I. Gonzalez and Arturo Maldonado with conspiracy, smuggling, and violating the Lacey Act for smuggling an Arabian oryx (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 554; 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), 3373(d)).

This species of antelope is native to the Arabian Peninsula and prized for its long, straight horns, white coat, and ability to survive on minimal water. By the late 1960s, it became extinct in the wild due to hunting. Through the development of captive populations and conservation efforts, the species made a comeback in countries like Oman and Saudi Arabia in the 1970s.

In October 2021, an unnamed person attempted to export an Arabian oryx owned by Gonzalez and Maldonado from Laredo, Texas, into Mexico. The defendants paid this person $300 to transport the animal over the border. Customs and Border Protection arrested the transporter when he failed to present his cargo for inspection and seized the animal.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. American Distillation, Inc., et al.

• Nos. 7:25-CR-00097, 7:24-CR-00104 (Eastern District of North Carolina)
• AUSA David Berak

On October 15, 2025, prosecutors filed an information charging American Distillation, Inc. (ADI), and company owner Andrew Simmons for illegally discharging chemicals into the Cape Fear River over a four-year period. ADI was charged with violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Simmons was charged with tax violations (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311, 1319(c)(2)(A); 26 U.S.C. § 7203).

ADI is a chemical processing company located beside the river that blends and markets industrial-grade ethyl alcohol. ADI regularly receives large quantities of tert-Butyl alcohol (TBOH) that it distills into a usable product. TBOH is a highly flammable, colorless, oily liquid with a sharp alcohol odor, and is designated as a pollutant under the CWA. During distillation, ADI created and stored byproducts and wastewater, including TBOH, in a 250,000-gallon storage tank (known as Tank 14). ADI’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit requires the company to properly dispose of TBOH byproduct.

Barry Darnell White worked as a Production Manager for ADI. His responsibilities included overseeing the transfer of chemicals between tanks as well as monitoring the tanker trucks travelling in and out of ADI’s facilities. White reported directly to ADI’s corporate management. Between 2020 and 2024, White released approximately 2,500 gallons of liquid wastewater from Tank 14, five to six times per year. White connected a hose to Tank 14, which drained into a pipe connected to an outfall flowing directly to the river. White pleaded guilty to violating the CWA and is scheduled for sentencing in May 2026.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the EPA Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.

United States v. Francisco Javier Ravelo

• No. 1:25-CR-20477 (Southern District of Florida)
• ECS Trial Attorney Emily Stone
• AUSA Brooke Latta

On October 22, 2025, prosecutors filed an information charging Francisco Javier Ravelo with violating the animal crush statute for distributing approximately 40 videos between September 2024 and February 2025 (18 U.S.C. § 48(a)(3)).

Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation 

United States v. Tony C. Long

• No. 1:25-CR-00205 (Eastern District of California)

On October 23, 2025, prosecutors filed a six-count indictment charging Tony C. Long with animal crushing, sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor, cyberstalking, and transmitting an interstate threat (18 U.S.C. §§ 48(a), 2251, 2252, 2261, 875).

In late 2024, Long purposely engaged in animal crushing, sexually exploited a juvenile victim living in Washington state, and committed cyberstalking and made online threats against a juvenile victim living in Kern County, California.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting the investigation, with assistance from the Porterville, California Police Department.

Related Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-animal-crushing-sexual-exploitation-minor

Guilty Pleas

United States v. Andre Trott, et al.

• No. 3:25-CR-00584 (District of New Jersey)
• AUSA Eric Boden

On October 2, 2025, Andre Trott pleaded guilty to conspiracy related to theft from government funded programs (18 U.S.C. § 371). Sentencing is scheduled for March 11, 2026.

Trott and co-defendant Martin Moore worked for Trenton’s Bureau of Environmental Health (BEH). They obtained overtime payments from the city of Trenton, New Jersey, for work they did not perform. The defendants fraudulently inflated the overtime hours they claimed to have worked conducting residential lead inspections and meal deliveries to needy Trenton residents.

Moore, a principal registered environmental health specialist for BEH and the entity’s supervisor, and Trott, a senior registered environmental health specialist for BEH, conducted residential lead inspections with other members of BEH from February 2018 through May 2022, and delivered meals from April 2020 through May 2021. Moore directed BEH members to obtain payments from the city of Trenton for work they did not perform by fraudulently inflating the overtime hours they claimed to have worked relating to residential lead inspections. Moore also directed Trott and others to inflate their overtime hours claimed for meal deliveries. Moore falsely reported overtime in excess of the time he spent on activities related to lead inspections and meal deliveries. As a result of these fraudulent overtime reports, Moore, Trott, and other members of BEH were paid for overtime work that they did not perform.

The FBI, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.

United States v. Janely Aylin Vela

• No. 5:25-CR-01100 (Southern District of Texas)
• AUSA Torie Sailor

On October 7, 2025, Janely Aylin Vela pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act for attempting to illegally import wildlife, specifically, two Capuchin monkeys, into the United States (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2), 3373(d)(1)(A)).

On June 9, 2025, a county deputy stopped Vela while driving on an interstate in La Salle County, Texas. During the traffic stop, the deputy noted a covered item in the rear seat. When he asked what was in the back, Vela answered “her monkeys." Further investigation determined that the monkeys were Capuchin monkeys and that Vela did not have the proper licenses to possess them.

When questioned by law enforcement, Vela admitted she planned to smuggle two monkeys for a co-conspirator. She took the monkeys from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and was going to be paid $500 to transport them to San Antonio, Texas. 

Homeland Security Investigation conducted the investigation.

United States v. Dennis West, et al.

• No. 2:25-CR-00175 (Southern District of West Virginia)
• AUSA Erik Goes
• SAUSA David Lastra

On October 9, 2025, Dennis West and his company, Gadsden, Gaillard, and West LLC, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1319 (c)(1)(A)). Sentencing is scheduled for January 9, 2026.

On August 24, 2022, while driving under the influence of alcohol, West crashed the company’s tractor trailer on a highway. West was transporting twelve 275-gallon totes of an industrial cleaning product containing alkyl dimethylamine. As a result, this chemical (classified as a corrosive material and marine pollutant) spilled onto the road and then into Paint Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River.

Authorities estimate that 1,300 gallons of alkyl dimethylamine spilled, killing close to 33,500 fish and requiring several months of environmental remediation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

Related Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/south-carolina-man-and-trucking-business-plead-guilty-contamination-paint-creek

United States v. Ricardo Alonzo

• No. 3:25-CR-02234 (Southern District of California)
• AUSA Parker Gardner-Erickson

On October 27, 2025, Ricardo Alonzo pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act and smuggling for transporting 17 exotic birds into the United States from Mexico under the seat of his car (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(A), 3373(d)(1)(A); 18 U.S.C. § 545). Sentencing is scheduled for January 26, 2026.

On May 4, 2025, authorities intercepted Alonzo as he drove over the border from Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Officers found four bags containing 10 burrowing parakeets, five yellow-crowned Amazon parrots, and two red-lored Amazon parrot chicks under the rear seat. The two red-lored Amazon parrot chicks did not survive; the remaining birds were transferred to a quarantine facility managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Amazon parrots are native to Mexico, the West Indies, and northern South America, and burrowing parakeets are native to Chile and Argentina. All species of Amazon parrots, as well as burrowing parakeets, are listed on either Appendix I or Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

Smuggled birds that are not subject to quarantine can prove dangerous as they may carry and spread Avian influenza (bird flu) and other diseases. Bird flu is highly contagious and can cause flu-like symptoms, respiratory illness, pneumonia, and death in humans and other birds, including those housed on poultry farms.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.

Sentencings

United States v. Erie Coke Corporation, et al.

• No. 1:22-CR-00023 (Western District of Pennsylvania)
• AUSA Nicole Vasquez Schmitt
• AUSA Michael L. Ivory

On October 7, 2025, a court sentenced Erie Coke Corporation (ECC) to pay a $700,000 fine. ECC pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to violating Title V of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for knowingly emitting unburned or raw coke oven gas in violation of its permit (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(1)).

ECC owned a coke manufacturing plant in Erie, Pennsylvania. The facility was located along Lake Erie, adjacent to the inlet to Presque Isle Bay. Located nearby were a number of private residences, public facilities, and schools.

Turning coal into coke generates a variety of pollutants, including volatile gases such as benzene, toluene, and xylene, as well as particulate matter. The facility operated under a CAA Title V permit issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This permit prohibited the company from emitting coke oven gas into the outdoor air without burning it first. The company also used a Continuous Opacity Monitor (COM) to measure its opacity levels, another way to monitor particulate matter emissions. Authorities required ECC to install the COM as part of a state enforcement action. The company previously violated its Title V permit and state air pollution laws, including exceeding opacity levels from the coke oven battery stack. As a result, ECC implemented additional remedial measures to reduce emissions to resolve an EPA civil enforcement action.

However, ECC and employees continued to violate the CAA by, among other things, removing caps on heating flues atop the coke oven batteries to allow combustion gases to vent directly into the air and bypassing the plant’s environmental monitoring system. ECC then submitted emissions monitoring data to regulators each quarter that underrepresented the number of emissions.

EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Cory Lawrence

• No. 9:25-mj-000068 (District of Montana)
• AUSA Randy Tanner

On October 7, 2025, a court sentenced hunter Cory Lawrence to pay a $10,000 fine to the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund. Lawrence pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act for killing a grizzly bear (16 U.S.C. §§ 1538(a)(1)(G), 1540(b)(1)).

On May 16, 2023, Lawrence shot and killed a grizzly bear near Berray Mountain in Sanders County, Montana. Lawrence did not report the killing to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) within five days of the killing, as required.

FWS learned of the killing days later when a citizen reported finding the carcass. Investigators identified Lawrence as the likely culprit and contacted him at his home in Utah, where he admitted to killing the bear and failing to report it.

FWS Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation. 

United States v. Onill Vasquez Lozada, et al.

• No. 1:24-CR-00075 (District of Rhode Island)
• ECS Assistant Chief Stephen DaPonte
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner
• AUSA John McAdams
• ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris

On October 14, 2025, a court sentenced Onill Vasquez Lozada to a two-year term of probation. Lozada pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing, sponsoring, and exhibiting birds in an animal fighting venture in violation of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) (7 U.S.C. § 2156(a)(1), (b), (d); 18 U.S.C. § 49(a)).

Lozada is one of six defendants charged with violating the AWA in connection with a cockfighting operation. On March 6, 2022, Miguel Delgado hosted a series of individual cockfights, known as “derbies,” at his Providence home. Delgado is also charged with sponsoring and exhibiting roosters in an animal fighting venture on multiple dates, buying and transporting sharp instruments, or “gaffs,” for use in the cockfights, and unlawfully possessing roosters for use in an animal fighting venture.

Antonio Ledee Rivera and Lozada were charged with unlawfully possessing roosters in April 2021 for use in an animal fighting venture and for sponsoring and exhibiting roosters at a March 2022 derby at Delgado’s home. Rivera was also charged in connection with an earlier derby at Delgado’s home.

Germidez Kingsley Jamie, Jose Rivera, and Luis Castillo are charged with sponsoring and exhibiting roosters at an animal fighting venture at the March 2022 derby. Jamie and Jose Rivera are also charged with one count of buying and transporting gaffs for use in an animal fighting venture.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigation, and the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals conducted the investigation. The following agencies also assisted: the U.S. Marshals Service; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Rhode Island State Police; Massachusetts State Police; Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Law Enforcement Division; and the Providence, Woonsocket, and Attleboro, Massachusetts, Police Departments.

Related Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ri/pr/rhode-island-man-sentenced-cockfighting-charges

United States v. Jocelyn Castilleja

• No. 5:25-CR-00515 (Southern District of Texas)
• AUSA Manuel Cardenas

On October 16, 2025, a court sentenced Jocelyn Castilleja to complete a one-year term of probation and perform 25 hours of community service. Castilleja pleaded guilty to smuggling (18 U.S.C. § 545).

On June 15, 2024, Castilleja attempted to smuggle three 25-pound containers of 410A hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant from Mexico into the United States in her vehicle. Customs and Border Protection agents discovered the refrigerants during a routine inspection at the Brownsville, Texas, border crossing. Castilleja failed to declare the containers to customs authorities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Eagle Ship Management, LLC, et al.

• Nos. 2:22-CR-00066, 2:25-CR-00138 (Eastern District of Louisiana)
• ECS Senior Litigation Counsel Richard Udell
• AUSA Dall Kammer
• ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris 

On October 16, 2025, a court sentenced Eagle Ship Management, LLC (Eagle), to pay a $1,750,000 fine and complete a four-year term of probation to include implementing an environmental compliance plan. Eagle pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C. § 1908). This case stems from the deliberate discharge of approximately 10,000 gallons of oily bilge water overboard in U.S. waters off the coast of New Orleans from the M/V Gannet Bulker, a foreign-flag vessel registered in the Marshall Islands.

A member of the ship’s crew reported the illegal discharge to the U.S. Coast Guard via social media. At the time of the discharge, the Gannet Bulker was at an anchorage near the mouth of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, within U.S. navigable waters.

Kirill Kompaniets, the vessel’s Chief Engineer, was previously sentenced to serve a year and a day in prison followed by six months of supervised release, and to pay a $5,000 criminal fine, for obstructing justice and directing the illegal discharge.

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted the investigation.

United States v. Paul Jacob Elliott Sommers

• No. 3:24-CR-01659 (Western District of Texas)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner
• ECS Trial Attorney Leigh Rendé
• ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer

On October 17, 2025, a court sentenced Paul Jacob Elliott Sommers to six months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Sommers pleaded guilty to smuggling wildlife into the United States (18 U.S.C. § 545). This investigation into illegal wildlife trafficking from Mexico into the United States uncovered Mexico-based reptile suppliers who conducted transactions with U.S. based-customers.

Over a period of four years, Sommers purchased wildlife from Mexico and coordinated with others to capture and transport the animals across the El Paso border crossing. Sommers then sold the animals to customers in the U.S.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. Russell Milis

• No. 1:24-CR-00232 (Eastern District of New York)
• ECS Trial Attorney Elise Kent Bernanke
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors

On October 23, 2025, a court sentenced Russell Milis to pay a $18,900 fine and complete a four-year term of probation that also prohibits him from possessing firearms.

Milis pleaded guilty to one count of Lacey Act false labeling for shipping hundreds of protected turtles from New York to China (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(d)(1), 3373(d)(3)(A)(i)).

Milis and others shipped protected species of turtles, including the eastern box turtle and three-toed box turtle, to Hong Kong and China for the pet trade. Between 2019 and 2020, Milis shipped almost 400 turtles.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. Isidro Chaparro Sanchez, et al.

• No. 5:24-CR-00209 (Central District of California)
• AUSA Corey Burleson
• AUSA Dennis Mitchell

On October 27, 2025, a court sentenced Luis Octavio Angulo to four months’ incarceration followed by 12 months’ supervised release, including four months of home detention. Angulo will also pay a $2,000 fine. He is the final defendant sentenced in this case involving cockfighting events. Eva Anilu Pastor Uriostegui was sentenced on October 20, 2025, to pay a $2,000 fine and complete a two-year term of probation, to include eight months’ home detention. A court sentenced Cirilo Esquivel Alcantar and Sergio Jimenez Maldonado on October 6, 2025. Both will serve four months’ incarceration followed by three years of supervised release, including four months of home detention. They will each pay $2,000 fines. Isidiro Chaparro Sanchez was sentenced in August 2025 to one month incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Sanchez also will pay a $4,000 fine.

Between May 2023 and July 2024, the defendants organized and facilitated cockfighting events in Muscoy, California, holding events on Sundays during the cockfighting “season.” Individuals brought roosters to fight, often drawing more than 100 spectators to each event.

Angulo, Uriostegui, and Maldanado pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Alcantar pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to operating cockfighting events as well as sponsoring and exhibiting roosters in an animal fighting venture (18 U.S.C. § 371; 7 U.S.C. § 2156(a)(1)).  Sanchez pleaded guilty to conspiring to sponsor roosters for fighting (18 U.S.C. § 371).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. 

United States v. Millenia Productions, LLC, et al. 

• No. 6:25-CR-10075 (District of Kansas)
• AUSA Matthew Treaster
• AUSA Debra Barnett

On October 29, 2025, a court sentenced Michael Le and his company, Millenia Productions, LLC (Millenia), for hazardous waste violations. Le will pay a $50,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation, including 90 days’ home detention. Millenia will pay a $285,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation, as a condition of which it will implement an environmental compliance and ethics program.

Millenia is a cosmetics manufacturing company located in Wichita, Kansas, that produces and distributes products, such as nail polish. Neither Le or Millenia possessed a permit to treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste. In July 2023, Le directed company employees to transport more than 600 containers of waste paint and solvents to another property he owns. Over a four-day period, an employee burned the chemicals in an open-air pit. Many containers also leaked chemicals onto the ground.

On the morning of July 13, 2023, two local fire departments responded to reports of a fire at Le’s property. First responders documented the active burn pit and treated one of Le’s employees, who suffered burns after the contents of one of the containers exploded and doused him with chemicals.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 6928(d)(2)(A)). The company pleaded guilty to illegally storing hazardous waste and Le pleaded guilty to illegally disposing of hazardous waste.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, the Kansas State Fire Marshall, and the Kansas Department of Health and the Environment conducted the investigation.

United States v. Jordan Carrillo

• No. 8:25-CR-00335 (Middle District of Florida)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Matthew Morris
• AUSA Erin Favorit
• ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer

On October 30, 2025, a court sentenced Jordan Carrillo to one year and a day of incarceration, followed by 24 months’ supervised release.

Carillo previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to sponsor, exhibit, train, and transport dogs for use in animal fighting ventures (18 U.S.C. § 371).

Carillo and co-conspirators arranged and participated in dog fights. They possessed, trained, transported, delivered, and received pit bull-type dogs for the purpose of fighting them in Connecticut, Florida, and Massachusetts.

Following the execution of two search warrants, authorities seized dogs with scarring, along with a variety of items consistent with dog fighting, including: veterinary medicines, skin staplers, dog certificates, and treadmills.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service.

View All Environmental Crimes Bulletins