A Tijuana woman arrested at the border pleaded not guilty after federal officers found 69 live animals stuffed in pillowcases in her Volkswagen’s hidden compartment.
Georgina Bribiesca Chavez, 66, of Tijuana, was taken into custody Aug. 10 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said. She allegedly told a CBP officer she had nothing to declare, but a records check revealed an outstanding warrant tied to a wildlife trafficking investigation.
CBP seized the Volkswagen, but officers did not discover the animals until they inspected it the following morning. Behind the rear seat, they found a concealed factory compartment containing pillowcases that had been knotted shut and sealed with tape.
The bags were taken to the San Diego Zoo, where workers found 60 abronia lizards, four venomous yellow-blotched palm pit vipers, three caimans, a baby crocodile and an indigo snake, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors said Chavez never told officers about the animals, leaving them inside the vehicle for nearly 24 hours in the August heat.
All three caimans died. The other animals were stable and remained in the zoo’s care as of last week.
Chavez pleaded not guilty to a federal wildlife trafficking charge and was ordered held without bond. Her alleged trafficking partner, Salvador Pelayo, 28, of Chula Vista, was arrested in July and has also pleaded not guilty.
The arrests followed an approximately 18-month undercover investigation by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Prosecutors allege Chavez and Pelayo had trafficked wildlife together since 2023 and made tens of thousands of dollars selling exotic animals.
During one alleged undercover transaction in March 2025, Chavez delivered four protected Mexican box turtles to an agent for $2,600 cash shortly after crossing the US-Mexico border. All four turtles later died after being transferred to the Oakland Zoo, prosecutors said. The turtles were already in poor health when they were acquired during the undercover operation and were believed to have been wild-caught and suffering from respiratory disease.
Pelayo is separately accused of using the alias “Jose Lopez” to ship four protected Mexican and Yucatan box turtles to an undercover agent in New York. The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the case with assistance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Chavez and Pelayo face Lacey Act trafficking charges carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
In the viral moment that sparked widespread outrage online, the discovery of 69 animals packed into taped-shut pillowcases in a factory-hidden compartment behind a car seat drew condemnation from wildlife advocates and prompted renewed scrutiny of cross-border exotic animal smuggling. The case highlighted the deadly toll of such operations, with multiple animals dying either in transit or shortly after recovery, and the use of seemingly ordinary household items like pillowcases as concealment for dangerous species including venomous snakes.
Chavez and Pelayo remain in federal custody pending further proceedings in the Southern District of California.