Jose Farinango Muenala, a resident of Casselberry, Florida, was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $25,000 after pleading guilty to misrepresenting goods as Indian produced. The sentencing took place on January 28, 2026, in the Western District of Wisconsin before U.S. District Judge William M. Conley.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin, complaints were received by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board in January 2023 regarding an individual operating under the business name Southwest Expressions. The complaints alleged that jewelry sold at art shows was falsely represented as handmade by Pueblo Indians.
An investigation led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified Farinango Muenala as the person behind these activities. Authorities determined that since 2012, he had attended numerous art shows across several states—including the 2023 Loon Day Festival in Mercer, Wisconsin—where he claimed to be a Pueblo or Native American from New Mexico and stated that his jewelry was handmade by himself or other Pueblo Indians. In reality, the jewelry was mass produced and imported from the Philippines.
Over an eleven-year period between 2012 and 2023, Southwest Expressions made more than 40,900 sales totaling over $2.68 million.
During sentencing, Judge Conley noted that Farinango Muenala had profited for years through intentional misrepresentation of his products’ origins and highlighted that federal law is designed to protect Native Americans.
Meridith Stanton, Director of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board at the U.S. Department of the Interior, commented: “The Indian Arts and Crafts Board, U.S. Department of the Interior, administers and enforces the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA), a truth in marketing law,” said Stanton. “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. The defendant in this case falsely claimed to be a third-generation jewelry maker from the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico while he sold imported Philippines jewelry as authentic Indian made across several states. 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.”
U.S. Attorney Chadwick M. Elgersma joined Stanton in praising cooperation between agencies involved in bringing attention to Farinango Muenala’s actions; both officials emphasized that prosecuting such cases demonstrates enforcement efforts related to violations under federal law governing representation of Native American arts.
The investigation was conducted jointly by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents along with personnel from Department of Interior’s Indian Arts & Crafts Board; Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor L. Kraus handled prosecution duties.
