Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Jose Farinango Muenala, 47, of Casselberry, Florida, pleaded guilty on January 28, 2026, to misrepresenting Indian-produced goods. U.S. District Judge William M. Conley sentenced Farinango Muenala to three years of probation and imposed a $25,000 fine.
The case began in January 2023, when the Indian Arts and Crafts Board received complaints that a vendor operating under the business name Southwest Expressions was attending art shows and falsely representing jewelry as handmade by Pueblo Indians. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched an investigation and identified the vendor as Farinango Muenala.
Investigators determined that since 2012, Muenala had participated as a vendor in dozens of art shows, including the 2023 Loon Day Festival in Mercer, Wisconsin. During these events, he falsely claimed to be a Pueblo Indian or a Native American from New Mexico and represented that the jewelry he sold was handmade by himself or other Pueblo Indians. In reality, the jewelry was mass-produced and imported from the Philippines.
Between 2012 and 2023, Muenala’s business made 40,905 individual sales and grossed more than $2.68 million.
At sentencing, Judge Conley emphasized that Muenala had, for years, intentionally and repeatedly profited from misrepresenting the origin of the jewelry he sold. Judge Conley also highlighted the importance of the statute violated, noting its purpose is to protect Native Americans.
“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 Meridith Stanton, Director of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. “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 selling 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 Elgersma and Director Stanton praised the collaboration between the Indian Arts and Crafts Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and thanked those who helped bring the conduct to light. Both emphasized that the prosecution sends a strong message that violations of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act will be vigorously enforced.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts Board. Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor L. Kraus prosecuted the case.
