2 Plead Guilty in Drug Money-Laundering Case
Two men pleaded guilty Thursday to charges ranging from conspiracy to launder money to conspiracy to distribute cocaine in the seizure last year of $17.8 million in drug profits--the largest ever in the West.
Jesus D. Salazar, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to launder money by helping another defendant buy a house in Sylmar, which was used to launder money, and by delivering $230,000 in cash in a shoe box to the home. Carlos Saavedra, 31, a Colombian, pleaded guilty to using a telephone in a conspiracy to facilitate money laundering. They are to be sentenced June 17.
Prosecutors said the raid on the Sylmar house on July 24, 1990, uncovered $17.8 million in cash, money-counting machines and ledgers.
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