Pleads Guilty to Laundering Money in Heroin Trafficking

TULSA, OK -- A woman illegally residing in the United States pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court for her involvement in a large scale heroin trafficking operation, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

Sonia Hernandez, 55, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy. From January 2018 until June 2019, Hernandez knowingly sent drug proceeds to a Mexican source of supply while working at a Tulsa money remitter business. She admitted to using nominee names during the transactions in order to conceal her criminal acts and to further the drug conspiracy. A “nominee name” is used to hide the true recipient of illicit money. Hernandez will be responsible for laundering drug proceeds for not less than 10 kilograms and nor more than 30 kilograms of heroin.

“Drug traffickers launder money as a means of concealing the illegal profits that they hope to pocket. This happens right here in Oklahoma,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “Unfortunately, the illegal drug trade leaves American families devastated by addiction. This case is being prosecuted by the experienced prosecutors in my Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Unit.”

Hernandez was one of more than 30 individuals charged with money laundering, drug conspiracy and other crimes. The initial indictment was first announced by U.S. Attorney Trent Shores in May 2019. The investigation involved the Giovanni Drug Trafficking Organization and was given the name Operation Smack Dragon.

The indictment alleges that the Giovanni Drug Trafficking Organization began a heroin distribution network run out of Mexico, with operations led from Tulsa, as early as November 2017. The alleged organization imported, processed, and distributed approximately two kilograms of heroin per week throughout the Northern District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, using multiple levels of distribution to get the drug into the hands of users.

According to the Indictment, the alleged transnational criminal organization’s hierarchy had clearly defined roles, as leaders from Mexico supplied heroin to the Tulsa “cell heads.” These “cell heads” were originally from Mexico but lived in Tulsa. Stille Giovanni Gutierrez Vivanco, allegedly directed, from Mexico, the overall drug trafficking operations in

Tulsa by delegating responsibilities for the import and distribution of the heroin and for the movement of the proceeds from heroin sales.

The criminal organization allegedly smuggled heroin into the United States and transported the drug to storage locations in Tulsa where they prepared it for distribution throughout the United States. After preparing the heroin, the coconspirators would repackage it for distribution to mid-level distributers, who would then redistribute it to street-level dealers until it eventually found its way into the hands of customers.

The indictment alleges that a select group of redistributors were the only group that would contact the “cell heads” in Tulsa directly.

The “cell heads” in Tulsa included a person responsible for driving drugs up from Mexico, a person responsible for distributing drugs to the top level of distributors, and a person in charge of getting the organization’s money funneled back to Mexico. The conspirators allegedly laundered the proceeds from heroin sales using money remitter businesses in Tulsa. As part of the money laundering operations, the defendants utilized nominee names to transmit funds through wire transfers from Oklahoma and elsewhere to Mexico. A “nominee name” is used to hide the true recipient of the money.

U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan scheduled set sentencing for Sept. 8, 2020.