The Justice Department announced that Ganaderos Borges Inc. and four employees face federal charges over alleged wastewater discharges in Puerto Rico. The August 12 announcement reported that an indictment had been unsealed that day. The charges do not establish that any defendant committed a crime.
Key Facts
- Federal charges: DOJ announced one alleged conspiracy and four alleged Clean Water Act violations.
- Defendants: The charges name Ganaderos Borges Inc., César P. Borges-Arroyo, Neftalí Borges-Gómez, Erison Delgado-Santos and Héctor Fulgencio-Cabrera.
- Case status: An indictment is an accusation, and all five defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
What prosecutors allege
Ganaderos Borges operates a slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant in Naguabo, according to DOJ. Prosecutors allege the defendants knowingly discharged wastewater from the plant’s waste-retention lagoon without the required Clean Water Act permit.
DOJ said the alleged conduct began in August 2018 and continued through at least September 2025. The agency alleges that Borges-Arroyo, the company’s president, and Borges-Gómez, an operator, directed employees to pump liquid waste toward an adjacent creek.
Prosecutors said the creek runs about half a mile to the Caribbean Sea at Tropical Beach. They described the waste as including animal blood, tissue, hair and feces, along with grease, wastewater and cleaning liquids.
DOJ also alleges that the defendants concealed the pump and hose and provided misleading statements and documents to authorities. Those assertions are allegations from the prosecution and have not been established at trial.
What the indictment does and does not decide
An indictment is a criminal accusation. It is not a verdict or a finding that the accusations are true.
DOJ identified the accusations as one conspiracy and four Clean Water Act violations. The department’s announcement did not report a plea, trial result or sentence.
DOJ said each individual could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge if convicted. It said the company could face a fine of up to $500,000 per charge.
Those figures are potential maximum penalties described by prosecutors, not penalties already imposed or predictions of the outcome.
What happens next
DOJ said the defendants were scheduled for initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Héctor Ramos Vega in the District of Puerto Rico. The announcement did not say that those proceedings had been completed.
The government must prove every charge beyond a reasonable doubt to obtain a conviction at trial. Every defendant remains presumed innocent while the criminal case is pending.
