Federal indictment ties Norcross business to 2 Mexican drug cartels, $8M reward offered
Agents accuse them of laundering money for two Mexican drug cartels: La Nueva Familia Michoacana and The Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The family members include David Vinalay, Jerome Lewis, Irving Hernandez, Beatriz Hernandez Chilel, and Karina Perez Hernandez.
Agents accuse the men of the family of bringing drug money to the women of the family who would then wire it back to cartel leaders in Mexico. Investigators said they'd do that through their check cashing business in Norcross called La Pulga Esperenza.
'The defendants allegedly trafficked high volumes of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into our community and then laundered the illicit proceeds of their activities as directed by a Mexico-based drug trafficker, including more than $1 million during a mere two-month period,' Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr said. 'Although these individuals took great measures to conceal their alleged criminal conduct, a determined and coordinated effort by our federal and local law enforcement partners helped to secure the federal charges in this case.'
Agents said that arrest should put a dent in the cartels' money laundering scheme.
Monday night, investigators said they arrested five suspected dealers in Douglasville and took $300,000 worth of money, guns, and jewelry from them. They also confiscated 100 pounds of fentanyl during the bust.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
'That's about 23.5 million lives that will be saved,' the DEA's Special Agent in Charge Jae Chung said.
Also this week, agents said they added La Nueva Familia Michoacana to the terrorist organization list.
'This speaks volumes about the level of threat and the seriousness that federal law enforcement is taking this,' said Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Steve Schrank.
Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco was at the news conference where rewards totaling $8 million were issued for brothers 52-year-old Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga, also known as El Pez, and 41-year-old Jose Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, also known as El Fresa, who are both accused of leading La Nueva Familia Michoacana.
You could get $5 million for turning in Johnny and $3 million for turning in his brother Jose to federal agents.
A Federal Grand Jury in Atlanta indicted them for conspiracy to manufacture, import, and distribute cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl to the United States. Agents believe they are likely in Mexico. You can send tips to the DEA at 404-281-3220 through the encrypted messaging apps WhatsApp or Signal.
TRENDING STORIES:
3 arrested as protestors disrupt Marjorie Taylor Greene town hall
Little Caesars' attack leads to police raid at suspect's home, uncovers fentanyl and guns
Witnesses say driver celebrated after chase, crash that killed 19-year-old innocent driver
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
20 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Former '16 and Pregnant' star charged in man's overdose death
ROME, Ga. (AP) — A woman who appeared on MTV's '16 and Pregnant' was arrested Monday in Georgia on charges including involuntary manslaughter related to a man's death by fentanyl poisoning earlier this year. Whitney Purvis, 33, was being held without bond in the Floyd County Jail in Rome, Georgia, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, according to online jail records. Online records did not indicate whether she had an attorney who could comment the charges. WAGA-TV reported that police records say that officers went to a home in Rome on Feb. 16 and found John Mark Harris dead from an overdose. Officers saw possible drug paraphernalia at the scene. An arrest warrant accuses Purvis of giving Harris a combination of xylazine and fentanyl known as 'Tranq' that led to an overdose, the television station reported. Purvis was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration and local officers, according to a statement from the federal agency. The investigation is ongoing, the DEA said. 'DEA reminds the public that nearly 70% of all drug-related deaths involve synthetic opioids, like fentanyl,' said Jae Chung, DEA acting special agent in charge of the Atlanta office. 'Two milligrams of fentanyl is a potentially deadly dose.'
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Whitney Purvis of '16 And Pregnant' Arrested After Man's Fatal Drug Overdose
Whitney Purvis of MTV's '16 and Pregnant' has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after a man's fatal drug overdose, multiple outlets report. According to TMZ, sheriffs in Floyd County, Georgia, said they booked the reality TV figure on Monday for intentionally distributing the substance 'tranq,' a mix of fentanyl and the veterinary sedative xylazine. She is being held without bail while facing charges of manslaughter and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances following the death of John Mark Harris, per arrest documents obtained by Deadline. Purvis' arrest comes a little over one month after she announced the death of her 16-year-old son, Weston Gosa Jr. The cause of Gosa's death has yet to be confirmed, but his stepmom, Amy Gosa, told TMZ that he was dealing with a number of medical issues, including diabetes. Purvis appeared on the first season of '16 and Pregnant' in 2009 along with ex Weston Gosa Sr. The couple welcomed son River Gosa in 2014 and split that same year, according to Us Weekly. HuffPost has reached out to the Floyd County Sheriff's Office for further details. Mexican Boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. Arrested By ICE Wellness Influencer 'Liver King' Arrested After Posting A Series Of Videos Aimed At Joe Rogan NYC Mayoral Candidate And City Comptroller Brad Lander Arrested At Immigration Court
San Francisco Chronicle
25 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Troops and federal agents briefly descend on LA's MacArthur Park in largely immigrant neighborhood
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of federal officers in tactical gear and about 90 members of the California National Guard were deployed for about an hour Monday to a mostly empty park in a Los Angeles neighborhood with a large immigrant population. It wasn't immediately known if any arrests were made. Defense officials had said the troops and over a dozen military vehicles would help protect immigration officers as they carried out a raid in MacArthur Park. 'What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation,' said Mayor Karen Bass, who called it a 'political stunt.' She said there were children attending a day camp in the park who were quickly ushered inside to avoid seeing the troops. Still, Bass said an 8-year-old boy told her that 'he was fearful of ICE.' Bass showed video of officers on horseback sweeping across an empty soccer field. The operation occurred at a park in a neighborhood with large Mexican, Central American and other immigrant populations and is lined by businesses with signs in Spanish and other languages that has been dubbed by local officials as the 'Ellis Island of the West Coast.' Among those who spoke with Bass were health care outreach workers who were working with homeless residents Monday when troops pointed guns at them and told them to get out of the park. Jeannette Zanipatin with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights went to see the brief but prominent presence of troops and federal officers at the park. 'I definitely think it's a source of intimidation,' she said. 'We know that the Trump administration is trying to make an example of Los Angeles.' The operation in the large park about 2 miles west of downtown LA included 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances and the armed soldiers, defense officials said. It came after President Donald Trump deployed thousands of Guard members and active duty Marines to the city last month following protests over previous immigration raids. Trump has stepped up efforts to realize his campaign pledge of deporting millions of immigrants in the United States illegally and shown a willingness to use the nation's military might in ways other U.S. presidents have typically avoided. Betsy Bolte, who lives nearby, came to the park after seeing a military-style helicopter circling overhead. She said it was 'gut-wrenching' to witness what appeared to be a federal show of force on the streets of a U.S. city. 'It's terror and, you know, it's ripping the heart and soul out of Los Angeles,' she said. 'I am still in shock, disbelief, and so angry and terrified and heartbroken.' The defense officials told reporters that it was not a military operation but acknowledged that the size and scope of the Guard's participation could make it look like one to the public. That is why the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details about the raid that were not announced publicly. 'It's just going to be more overt and larger than we usually participate in,' one of the officials said before the raid ended abruptly with no explanation. The primary role of the service members would be to protect the immigration enforcement officers in case a hostile crowd gathered, that official said. They are not participating in any law enforcement activities such as arrests, but service members can temporarily detain citizens if necessary before handing them over to law enforcement, the official said. 'This morning looked like a staging for a TikTok video,' said Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, adding if Border Patrol wants to film in LA, 'you should apply for a film permit like everybody else. And stop trying to scare the bejesus out of everybody who lives in this great city and disrupt our economy every day.' Sprawling MacArthur Park has a murky lake ringed by palm trees, an amphitheater that hosts summer concerts and sports fields where immigrant families line up to play soccer in the evenings and on weekends. A thoroughfare on the east side is often crammed with unlicensed food stands selling tacos and other delicacies, along with vendors speaking multiple languages and hawking cheap T-shirts, toys, knickknacks and household items. Authorities routinely clear encampments and medical outreach teams tend to homeless residents. Chris Newman, legal director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said he received a credible tip about the operation Monday. 'It was a demonstration of escalation,' Newman said. 'This was a reality TV spectacle much more so than an actual enforcement operation.' Since federal agents have been making arrests at Home Depot parking lots and elsewhere in Los Angeles, Newman said fewer people have been going to the park and immigrant neighborhoods near the city's downtown. 'The ghost town-ification of LA is haunting, to say the very least,' he said. More than 4,000 California National Guard and hundreds of U.S. Marines have been deployed in Los Angeles since June — against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last week, the military announced about 200 of those troops would be returned to their units to fight wildfires. ___
