Puerto Rico slaughterhouse, execs indicted in Clean Water Act case

Federal prosecutors have unsealed an indictment charging four individuals and Ganaderos Borges Inc. (GBI), a Puerto Rico slaughterhouse operator, with four violations of the Clean Water Act and conspiracy to violate the act. They are accused of illegally discharging wastewater toward an adjacent creek that travels approximately half a mile to the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach in Naguabo.

The indictment names César P. Borges-Arroyo, Neftalí Borges-Gómez, Erison Delgado-Santos, Héctor Fulgencio-Cabrera and GBI. The corporation operates a slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant in Naguabo, Puerto Rico. Its operations include receiving and holding live animals for slaughter, butchering and initially processing animals, and producing consumer-ready meat products, according to the Justice Department.

According to the indictment, the defendants conspired for the benefit of GBI to knowingly discharge wastewater from the plant’s waste-retention lagoon into U.S. waters without a required Clean Water Act permit. “We allege that this meat processing plant and at least four of its employees conspired to pump animal flesh, blood, and feces into a creek that flows to the ocean and a public beach,” said Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division. He said the alleged conduct “sacrifices public health for economic gain” and constitutes a crime.

Acting U.S. Attorney Héctor Ramírez Carbó for the District of Puerto Rico alleged that GBI “repeatedly and intentionally” violated the law by discharging untreated waste into the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach in Naguabo. EPA Assistant Administrator Jeffrey A. Hall said the defendants knowingly sent “a disgusting sludge of animal blood and waste, and cleaning products” into the Caribbean Sea, only miles from nature preserves, beaches and a military base.

Prosecutors allege that the conduct began in August 2018 and continued through at least September 2025. Borges-Arroyo, GBI’s president, and Borges-Gómez, a GBI operator, allegedly directed employees, including Delgado-Santos and Fulgencio-Cabrera, to use a submersible pump and hose to move liquid waste from the plant’s retention lagoon toward an adjacent creek. The creek travels approximately half a mile to the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach. According to the indictment, the defendants were attempting to avoid millions of dollars in annual waste-removal costs.

The waste allegedly included animal blood, hair, tissue and feces, as well as grease, wastewater, disinfectant and other liquids used in the slaughterhouse and processing areas. GBI held a non-discharge wastewater-treatment permit requiring liquid waste to be hauled to a disposal facility. No waste was permitted to be discharged on-site or into another body of water. The permit expired July 31, 2019, and the alleged violations continued until at least September 2025.

The indictment further alleges that the defendants concealed the illegal discharges by hiding the submersible pump and hose when they were not in use and by providing authorities with false and misleading statements and documents.

The defendants are scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Héctor Ramos Vega of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico for their respective initial appearances. If convicted, the individuals face maximum penalties of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for each charge. GBI faces a maximum fine of $500,000 for each charge.

EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case with assistance from the FBI. Both agencies participate in the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Environmental Crimes Task Force.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.