Abstract
In San Diego today, the Honorable Earl B. Gilliam sentenced
Virginia Vidrio to a 30-month term of imprisonment
for her role in a scheme to smuggle over $25,000 worth of
exotic psittacine birds into the United States from Mexico.
United States Attorney Peter K. Nunez stated that
Virginia Vidrio, the owner and operator of Vicky's Pet
Shop in Bell, California, a shop which specializes in exotic
birds, was found guilty after a jury trial. Vidrio was
convicted of one count of conspiracy to smuggle baby yellow-
naped Amazon parrots and military macaws; one
count of aiding and abetting the smuggling of twenty baby
yellow-naped Amazon parrots; and one count of aiding and
abetting the smuggling of three military macaws.
According to the evidence introduced by the Government
at the trial, Vidrio would order the exotic parrots from
suppliers in Tijuana and then pay" runners" to smuggle the
birds across the border. Vidrio herself was apprehended at
the furt of Entry, San Ysidro, California, on April1981 after
seven yellow-naped parrots were found to be concealed
underneath the rear seat of the automobile which she was
driving.