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The Rio Grande Valley couple arrested less than a month ago for their involvement in selling exotic animals without a license have been indicted, according to court documents.
Rafael Gutierrez-Galvan, a Mexican national born in 1994, and his wife, Deyanira Garza, a United States citizen born in 1995, are accused of selling a jaguar cub and a margay to uncover federal agents.
A federal grand jury indicted them Tuesday.
However, the indictment revealed that the couple also either bought, sold or were in possession of a spider monkey.
They are both facing one count of smuggling goods into the U.S. and one count of unlawful transportation and sale of wildlife.
Gutierrez-Galvan is facing an additional count of possession of prohibited wildlife.
From Aug. 16 to on or about Sept. 26, the couple knowingly imported into the U.S. and sold a spider monkey, margay and jaguar, according to federal prosecutors.
According to the criminal complaint, Gutierrez-Galvan delivered two endangered species to an undercover Homeland Security Investigations special agent on two separate occasions this year.
On Aug. 24, Gutierrez-Galvan delivered a margay to the undercover agent in exchange for $7,500, according to a criminal complaint.
It was on Sept. 26 when Gutierrez-Galvan delivered a jaguar cub to the agent, that federal agents approached Gutierrez-Galvan who told them in Spanish that he was just there to sell a cat.
During this interaction, a separate group of federal agents, who were conducting surveillance at the couple’s residence, observed Garza carrying a case and enter a vehicle.
“An Alamo police officer conducted a traffic stop for failure to signal on the vehicle and identified the driver as Deyanira Garza, Gutierrez-Galvan’s wife,” the complaint said. “During the traffic stop, Garza stated there was money in the case.”
The indictment also revealed that authorities seized up to $79,600 from the two.
They were then transported to HSI McAllen where they were interviewed by special agents.
It was there that Gutierrez-Galvan admitted that he was self-employed and buys and sells animals, according to the criminal complaint.
Garza also admitted that her husband buys and sells animals that include margays, parrots and other animals.
She added that she assists him in wildlife trafficking by acting as a translator for him.
They are scheduled for an arraignment hearing in late October.
Garza received a $50,000 bond in the case while Gutierrez-Galvan is being detained without bond.
