Ana Lilia Leal-Martinez, a Mexican citizen residing in Overland Park, Kansas, has pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit money laundering. This activity spanned from May 23, 2020, until September 20, 2022. Leal-Martinez faces up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, according to a July 1 news release from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
According to the DEA news release, Leal-Martinez is one of 44 defendants identified in an investigation of a drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing over 335 kilograms of methamphetamine and 22 kilograms of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine. Her co-conspirators include Jose Jesus Sanchez-Mendez, a Mexican national known as "Michoacano."
Leal-Martinez owns Imagen Leal, an Olathe-based business offering money transfer services. With her plea, she admitted to accepting drug sale profits from co-conspirators and wiring those proceeds to individuals in Michoacan, Mexico.
Sanchez-Mendez has also pleaded guilty to his role in a continuing criminal enterprise involving drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies and illegally reentering the United States.
A co-defendant, Flor Gonzalez-Celestine of Kansas City, also pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin from February 28, 2020 until September 20, 2022.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the DEA; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the Jackson County Drug Task Force; IRS-Criminal Investigation; the Kansas Bureau of Investigation; the Kansas Highway Patrol; the Independence Police Department; the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; the Minnesota State Patrol; the Olmstead Sheriff’s Office; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the FBI; the Clay County Sheriff’s Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration was established in 1973 to enforce controlled substances laws and regulations. It aims to bring organizations involved in growing, manufacturing or distributing controlled substances destined for illicit traffic in the U.S. into criminal and civil justice systems. The DEA also supports non-enforcement programs aimed at reducing the availability of illicit controlled substances.
