Father, son among two dozen arrested for running drugs from Colorado to California
Twenty-three other people were arrested for trying to cover up the arrangement and for smuggling cash and money orders across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Juan Demetrio Villalpando Dominguez, a 65-year-old California resident, was ordered to serve 38 months in federal prison on April 10.
According to case documents, Dominguez's son, Juan Demetrio Villalpando, Jr. (a.k.a. "Junior") supplied large amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine and meth-heroin mixtures to operatives in Colorado. Those people then took the drugs to California, sold them there, and mailed the proceeds to the father.
However, the packages were never addressed directly to Dominguez. Instead, as detailed in the 71-count federal indictment against the group, different names and addresses were used to conceal the father's identity from authorities.
Dominguez, in turn, arranged for other operatives to carry the funds, usually bundles of cash, discreetly across the border. The bundles of money were delivered to his son, the leader of the organization.
The group conducted this operation for approximately four years, per federal investigators. It came to an end with the help of two confidential informants who purchased drugs delivered to the Denver area from Mexico.
One of those purchases happened in Aurora on Feb. 2, 2023, per case documents. That day, one of the confidential informants purchased more than 2,000 grams of meth and 21,000 fentanyl pills in separate transactions monitored by federal agents. The agents arrested those involved (excluding the informant) immediately after the deal was made.
That informant, according to a federal affidavit, had a criminal history including theft, assault, vehicular eluding, felony menacing, and burglary at the time. That person was also "motivated by a desire to stay in the United States" by cooperating with investigators following a 2018 arrest, as stated in the affidavit. That person was also paid for their services.
A federal grand jury in Denver produced the indictment three months after the Aurora deals.
Dominguez, the California-based father, pleaded guilty to money laundering. He is at this time the ninth person to be sentenced among the 25 who were eventually arrested. Their convictions include money laundering, drug possession, and weapons charges. Their sentences range from two to 12.5 years in duration.
The prosecutions are a culmination of separate overlapping investigations by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, and Internal Revenue Services's Criminal Investigations unit.
"Dismantling cartels requires more than seizing drugs – it includes cutting off the flow of illicit money that fuels their operations. That's why targeting the money laundering component of these networks is a key priority," FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek stated in a press release announcing Dominguez's sentence.
"Facilitating drug trafficking by funneling illegal proceeds back to Mexico perpetuates the scourge of the drug epidemic in our communities," added Amanda Prestegard, IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge, Denver Field Office. "Removing these money launderers from the streets and putting them in prison is a result of the hard work of CI special agents, who proudly provide financial expertise as we work alongside our law enforcement partners to bring criminals to justice and keep our communities safe."
None of the case documents contained details about the delivery of drugs into Colorado, or about the immigration status of any of the defendants.
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