United States v. Ganaderos Borges, Inc., et al.

On August 12, 2026, the court unsealed an indictment charging César P. Borges-Arroyo, Neftalí Borges-Gómez, Erison Delgado-Santos, Héctor Fulgencio-Cabrera, and Ganaderos Borges, Inc. (GBI), with conspiracy and four violations of the Clean Water Act (18 U.S.C. § 371; 33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1319(c)(2)(A)). 

GBI is a corporation in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, that operates a slaughterhouse and meat processing plant. The operations encompass receiving and holding live animals for slaughter, butchering animals (bleeding), initial processing of animals, and operations that produce consumer-ready meat products. According to the indictment, the defendants conspired to knowingly discharge a pollutant (wastewater from the meat processing waste retention lagoon) into waters of the United States without a Clean Water Act permit.

Between August 2018 and September 2025, GBI president Borges-Arroyo and GBI operator Borges-Gómez directed employees, including Delgado-Santos and Fulgencio-Cabrera, to discharge liquid waste from GBI’s waste retention lagoon towards an adjacent creek. They did this by using a submersible pump placed in the waste retention lagoon and connected to a hose, attempting to avoid millions of dollars in annual waste removal costs. GBI held a non-discharge wastewater treatment permit that required the company to haul liquid waste from the facility to a disposal facility. At no time was any waste permitted to be discharged on-site or to any other body of water. This permit expired in July 2019, and they continued to violate the Clean Water Act until September 2025.

GBI generated waste from various on-site processes, including animal intake, slaughtering, hide removal, butchering, and cleaning. The waste included animal blood, hair, tissue, and feces, as well as grease, wastewater, disinfectant, and other liquids used inside the GBI slaughterhouse and processing areas. The mixed waste flowed from the facility to a discharge pipe that emptied into a waste retention lagoon located on the southwest corner of the GBI property. The western edge of the waste retention lagoon is next to a creek which travels approximately half-a-mile to the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach in Naguabo, Puerto Rico. 

To conceal the illegal waste discharge, the defendants hid the submersible pump and hose when not in use and provided false and misleading statements and documents to authorities to hide their illegal activities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both agencies participate in the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Environmental Crimes Task Force.