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Florida Man Sentenced After Selling Fake Native American Jewelry for a Decade
Prosecutors say the man attended arts and craft fairs claiming he was a third-generation jeweler who was a member of the Pueblo tribe.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin announced last week that a 47-year-old Florida man who pleaded guilty on Jan. 28 to misrepresenting Indian-produced goods has been sentenced.
Madison, Wis.—A Florida man who claimed to be a member of the Pueblo tribe from New Mexico and passed off jewelry made overseas as authentic, handmade Native American works was fined and sentenced to probation in federal court last week.
On Jan. 30, U.S. District Judge William M. Conley, a federal judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, gave 47-year-old Jose Farinango Muenala of Casselberry, Florida, three years of probation and a $25,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.
Farinango Muenala pleaded guilty in late January to misrepresenting Indian-produced goods after initially facing other charges including wire fraud and mail fraud, court documents show.
According to the release, in January 2023, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board received a complaint about a man who had a business called Southwest Expressions and was attending art shows claiming the jewelry he was selling was handmade by members of the Pueblo tribe.
The board—part of the U.S. Department of the Interior—administers and enforces the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA), a federal law enacted in 1990 that makes it illegal to offer, display for sale, or sell any good in a manner that falsely suggests it was Native American produced, a Native American product, or a product of a particular Native American tribe resident in the United States.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) began investigating the complaint and identified the man in question as Farinango Muenala.
Through its investigation, FWS determined that Farinango Muenala had been attending art shows as a vendor since 2012, including the 2023 Loon Day festival in Mercer, Wisconsin, which falls under jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Other shows Farinango Muenala attended include the 2023 St. Augustine Festival in St. Augustine, Florida; the 2023 Beaux Arts Festival in Coral Gables, Florida; and the 2024 Ann Arbor Arts Fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan, according to the superseding indictment filed against him in August 2025.
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On Jan. 30, U.S. District Judge William M. Conley, a federal judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, gave 47-year-old Jose Farinango Muenala of Casselberry, Florida, three years of probation and a $25,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.
Farinango Muenala pleaded guilty in late January to misrepresenting Indian-produced goods after initially facing other charges including wire fraud and mail fraud, court documents show.
According to the release, in January 2023, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board received a complaint about a man who had a business called Southwest Expressions and was attending art shows claiming the jewelry he was selling was handmade by members of the Pueblo tribe.
The board—part of the U.S. Department of the Interior—administers and enforces the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA), a federal law enacted in 1990 that makes it illegal to offer, display for sale, or sell any good in a manner that falsely suggests it was Native American produced, a Native American product, or a product of a particular Native American tribe resident in the United States.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) began investigating the complaint and identified the man in question as Farinango Muenala.
Through its investigation, FWS determined that Farinango Muenala had been attending art shows as a vendor since 2012, including the 2023 Loon Day festival in Mercer, Wisconsin, which falls under jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Other shows Farinango Muenala attended include the 2023 St. Augustine Festival in St. Augustine, Florida; the 2023 Beaux Arts Festival in Coral Gables, Florida; and the 2024 Ann Arbor Arts Fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan, according to the superseding indictment filed against him in August 2025.
Prosecutors said at these shows, Farinango Muenala told customers he was a Native American from New Mexico—which he is not—and misrepresented the jewelry he sold as having been handmade by himself or other members of the Pueblo tribe.
Court documents state, “The defendant claimed to customers he was a Pueblo tribal member from Taos and a third-generation jewelry maker.
“He spun a tale that he and his brother made almost all the jewelry in their studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and what they didn’t make, their family did. Considering these lies, the hefty price tag on the jewelry—hundreds of dollars, for some pieces—made sense.”
In reality, the jewelry was mass produced and imported from the Philippines.
According to the release, Farinango Muenala’s business, Southwest Expressions, made 40,905 individual sales and grossed about $2.7 million between 2012 and 2023.
At sentencing, Judge Conley noted that Farinango Muenala profited by intentionally misrepresenting the jewelry that he sold. The judge also acknowledged the significance of IACA, which was created to protect Native Americans.
Commenting on the sentencing, Indian Arts and Crafts Board Director Meridith Stanton said, “The IACA is intended to rid the Indian arts and crafts marketplace of counterfeits to protect the economic livelihoods and cultural heritage of Indian artists, craftspeople, and their tribes, as well as the buying public.
“Authentic Indian art and craftwork is an important tool for passing down cultural traditions, traditional knowledge, and artistic skills from one generation to the next … These sales of fake Indian art tear at the very fabric of Indian culture and undercut the marketability of the creative work of federally recognized tribes.”
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