Boot retailer sentenced to 18 years in prison
El Paso Times Staff
Article Launched: 06/04/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


An El Paso boot retailer was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to smuggling sea turtle and other exotic boot skins, the U.S. Department of Justice said recently.

Jorge Caraveo, owner of the Juárez Boot Co. in Downtown El Paso, pleaded guilty in January in federal court in Denver. Caraveo, who was arrested in September, will be under supervision for three years after he's released from prison and will have to pay $300 assessment. The market value of the skins, boots and shoes smuggled over years by Caraveo was more than $200,000, according to information from the sentencing hearing.

Carlos Leal Barragan and Esteban Lopez Estrada, both of Mexico, were sentenced to, respectively, a year plus two months and two years in prison for smuggling in the scheme.

Daniel Borunda






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