Source: United States Attorneys General 6
An Ohio brother and sister were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in collecting drug proceeds in the United States and laundering those funds, or their equivalent value, back to Mexico on behalf of a cartel.
According to court documents, Christopher Grover Reynolds, 52, of Toledo, Ohio, was sentenced to over six years in prison, and his sister, Claudette Reynolds, 51, of Toledo, was sentenced to two years in prison for their participation in a money laundering conspiracy. They were both sentenced to three years of supervised release.
“The defendants helped Mexican drug traffickers collect and disguise the profits from selling methamphetamine and fentanyl in Toledo,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Their money laundering activities fueled the importation of dangerous drugs into the Midwest. This prosecution reflects the Criminal Division’s commitment to staunch the flow of cash to cartels and protect communities from the devastating consequences of drug trafficking.”
“Every dollar they laundered was done so on the backs of overdose victims and their families,” said Special Agent in Charge Jim Scott, head of DEA’s Louisville Division. “By acting as the cartel’s bankers, these siblings helped fuel the fentanyl and meth crisis tearing through Ohio. DEA will hunt down anyone who dares to wash cartel money — because if you launder blood money for drug traffickers, you will face justice alongside them.”
According to court documents, Christopher Reynolds collected proceeds from the sale of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and marijuana in Toledo and notified a Mexico-based cartel that the funds were ready for laundering and transfer to Mexico. On six occasions, Reynolds personally delivered the money – totaling $784,045 – or enlisted his sister to do so. The money was later transferred to Mexico via cryptocurrency.
A search of Christopher Reynolds’s residence and a traffic stop of Claudette Reynolds led to a seizure of $184,415 in bulk cash, several pounds of marijuana, counterfeit pills containing methamphetamine and fentanyl, two firearms (a .40 caliber pistol and an AR-15 rifle), and a money counting machine.
The DEA Lexington Resident Office investigated the case, working closely with the Detroit Field Division and Rocky Mountain Field Division and assisted by DEA offices in Mexico, Toledo, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Birmingham, Chicago, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Louisville, Baltimore, Des Moines, Milwaukee, Portland, Columbia, and Rapid City, with the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.
Trial Attorney Elizabeth R. Rabe of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Deputy Criminal Chief Gary Todd Bradbury of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky prosecuted this case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.