SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 9, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — An Eagle Mountain business owner is among 23 individuals accused in a large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering operation along the Wasatch Front.
A federal magistrate judge Monday ordered that the last of the 23 individual defendants accused in the case be detained. The individuals are charged with 33 federal crimes, including laundering millions of dollars via wire transfers from Utah to Mexico and Honduras.
Court documents allege Georgina Espinoza-Grajeda, 40, of Eagle Mountain, was at the center of a complex conspiracy to secretly and illegally wire millions of dollars in proceeds from narcotics trafficking to suppliers in Mexico and Honduras through her South Salt Lake-based company Multiservicios Lokos LLC.
Espinoza-Grajeda and employee Jesid Dadiana De Sutter, 50, of Sandy, are accused of laundering the money by falsifying wire transfer information to avoid detection, according to court documents. Multiservicios Lokos LLC allegedly was the money laundering hub for multiple drug trafficking organizations.
From at least January 2022 to November 2023, Espinoza-Grajeda and De Sutter operated their money remitting business and laundered millions of dollars in drug proceeds deposited by their co-defendants trafficking in fentanyl, heroin and cocaine throughout the Wasatch Front, according to court documents.
Through a collaborative law enforcement effort, agents and officers seized 62,000 fentanyl pills, 24.5 pounds of heroin, 8.5 pounds of cocaine, five firearms and $237,000 in cash, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah said in a news release. Agents and officers estimate the criminal organization laundered more than $20 million since January 2022.
Espinoza-Grajeda and De Sutter are charged with conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to structure transactions to evade reporting requirements, conspiracy to evade suspicious activity reporting and anti-money laundering requirements.
Their initial court appearance on the indictment, along with many of their co-defendants, was in November 2023, where the court ordered all except one defendant to remain in custody pending trial. A superseding indictment was filed on Dec. 6.
Two more defendants, Henrry Arita Lozano and Frances Dalyana Power-Escobar were arrested in Washington and brought to Utah. Lozano appeared at his arraignment Jan. 5, and Power-Escobar appeared at her arraignment Jan. 8. Lozano and Power-Escobar both were ordered to remain in custody, with a jury trial scheduled for April 16.
Also accused in the case are:
- Guadalupe Aracely Vargas Ruelas, 24, West Valley City
- Rodrigo Andres Droguett-Almendra, 26, Orem
- Erik Rojas-Moreno, 18, Salt Lake City
- Fredis Omar Archaga-Ponce, 41, Sandy
- Santos Reynerio Lemuz-Ortega, 37, Sandy
- Ever Nohe Murillo-Raudales, 34, Cottonwood Heights
- Jose Nixon Escoto-Ortez, 44, West Jordan
- Vicente Ortez-Zuniga, 42, West Jordan
- Wilmer Arnoldo Romero-Soto, 45, West Valley City
- Rigo Adolfo Melendez-Martinez , 43, West Valley City
- Cristian Antonio Valle-Acosta, 22, West Valley City
- Yahir Acosta-Melendez, 20, West Valley City
- Isaac Antonio Arteaga-Acosta, 39, Midvale
- Edilberto Melendez-Ponce, 37, Salt Lake City
- Kevin Ariel Ruiz-Aguilar, 34, Riverton
- Milton Ivan Acosta Hernandez, 37, Sandy
- Miguel Fierro, 48, West Jordan
- Sandy Contreras Espinoza, 32, West Jordan
- Cristian Escobar-Gomez, 27, West Valley City
