SoCal Soccer Mom sentenced in Sinaloa Cartel money laundering operation
SoCal Soccer Mom sentenced in Sinaloa Cartel money laundering operation
Lucio R. Borderland Beat from: LaOpinion, 'La Voz de Houston', Dallas Morning News
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To those who knew her, Bambi Adams was a cheery and energetic PTA mom who raised her children by herself and went to their various school events.
Adams didn’t work, but some people who knew her didn’t ask where the money was coming from to support her.
Adams, it turns out, is married to a Mexican drug dealer who distributes methamphetamine to the Dallas area among other places in the U.S. She was sentenced on Monday to 9 years in federal prison in Fort Worth for a money laundering conspiracy.
Adams pleaded guilty to the charge in April.
Members of the drug conspiracy, including some in North Texas, deposited his illegal drug proceeds into various accounts Adams set up in the U.S. since 2009, federal authorities said. It has totaled about $10,000 per month in cash, authorities said.
Adams had been living in California, east of Los Angeles, with her five kids where she cooked meals for them and raised money for her son’s high school football team. Her son tearfully told U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor that Adams drove to his school each day to bring him freshly-made lunches.
Her husband is Ramon Gonzalez, a large-scale methamphetamine dealer in Mexico who authorities say is a major player in the Sinaloa Cartel. He is a U.S. citizen who is still wanted.
“Gonzalez directs others to deposit money (drug proceeds) into his wife’s bank account that she in turn spends on any number of things, such as paying the mortgage on their Hacienda Heights home and purchasing vehicles,” court records said.
Prosecutors said Adams knew the source of the money, which was her only source of income, and traveled to Mexico 13 times during the past two years to visit her husband.
She was arrested in February at her Hacienda Heights house.
Her husband Ramon Gonzalez, came under the government’s radar after an investigation into methamphetamine trafficking in Texas in 2012.
Rodeo Nightclub Pico Rivera SoCal, and ‘Don Ramon’
A February report said that Gonzalez was using a nightclub to launder some of the meth proceeds. Around that time Adam’s L.A.-area home was raided and she was accused of setting up accounts to help launder the money. Court documents showed that Adams was receiving around $10,000 month in cash from her husband who was living in Mexico. All the while she was taking care of her kids and was active in her school PTA.
Edgar Fragoso, owner of El Rodeo Nightclub, allegedly told a DEA informant that the Night Club was used for narco money laundering, serving Ramón González "Don Ramon".
The DEA says Ramon Gonzalez is a major producer and distributor of methamphetamine who traffics across the borders of Texas and California, and has warrants in Chicago and Dallas.
According to the criminal complaint, Fragoso also boasted of having friendly relations with some family members of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera and Rafael Caro Quintero.
Ramón González, 43 years old, is a man born in Southern California who has had residences in Huntington Park, Hacienda Heights, Whittier, Ontario and Monterey Park.
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According to the transcripts, Gonzalez and Fragoso are ‘compadres’ working together on money laundering at least since 2009.
The Rodeo nightclub has a long history of violence, with EME, (Mexican Mafia) being in charge of protection for the owner and the club. Aside from being used for laundering, drugs was a lucrative business at the club, as well as prostitution and other criminality
After the case was brought forth by the informant, The DEA placed Fragoso under surveillance, and recorded all of his cell phone conversations and text messages.
It was a BlackBerry phone that Fragoso used for sending messages, it was registered to Javier Pineda, identified by federal authorities as an immigration attorney based in Santa Ana, California.
Borderland Beat Reporter Lucio Posted at 1:57 PM http://img1.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif
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