Felipa Oliveros, Pesticide Smuggling, California 2022

SAN DIEGO, CA – A San Diego federal court has sentenced a California woman to three months in custody for smuggling pesticides into the United States from Mexico.

Felipa Oliveros, 52, of El Centro, California, pleaded guilty in April 2022 to smuggling bottles of Bovitraz or Taktic into the United States.

According to sentencing documents, Oliveros was part of a larger organized pesticide smuggling ring, which also included her daughter, Laura Orellana, who was sentenced to 92 days in custody for her role in the conspiracy.

On June 7, 2022, Sofia Mancera Morales, the ringleader of this pesticide smuggling organization, was sentenced to eight months in custody and ordered to pay $7,497 in restitution for the cost of disposal of the illegal pesticides.

Federal law prohibits the distribution and sale of cancelled or unregistered pesticides. Only pesticides registered with the EPA may be imported or sold in the United States. All pesticides intended for use in the United States must bear their EPA registration number on their labels, preceded by the phrase “EPA Registration No.” or “EPA Reg. No.”

In this case, all of the containers smuggled by the group were labeled only in Spanish and bore no EPA registration numbers.

This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section.

Mandatory Facts:

• Defendant: Felipa Oliveros
• Charges: Smuggling – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 545
• City and State: San Diego, California
• Date: September 8, 2022
• Sentence: Three months in custody
• Dollar Amount: $0

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