by Jim Kouri - BOSTON -- Three Boston-area men appeared on Thursday in federal court after their arrest on charges relating to money laundering, currency reporting offenses, and drug distribution in connection with a Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, money remitting business. Law enforcement officials in the Dominican Republic arrested seven additional suspects there in connection with the ongoing investigation.
Santo Melo, a/k/a “Puly,” age 48, of Roslindale, and president of Boston Envio De Valores, Inc., a Jamaica Plain money remitting business, was charged in an indictment partially unsealed Thursday, with conspiracy to commit money laundering, two substantive counts of money laundering, and theft of government property.
Claudio Tejeda Andujar, a/k/a “Jose Rivera,” a/k/a “Dagoberto Lazocha,”34, and Jose Garcia, 48, also were arrested on charges in the indictment.
The indictment remains under seal with respect to a fourth defendant who has not yet been arrested. Tejeda Andujar, a partner in Boston Envio, is charged with money laundering conspiracy, four substantive money laundering counts, as well as with a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and two counts of distribution of cocaine. Garcia, a former employee of Boston Envio, faces ten counts of failure to report a cash transaction exceeding $10,000.
The indictment alleges that between September 2004 and March 2006, Melo and Tejeda Andujar conspired to launder money that had been represented to them to be drug proceeds. The charges stem from a two-year FBI, IRS and ICE “sting” operation in which a cooperating witness brought cash to Boston Envio, represented the funds to be drug proceeds, and wired the money to the Dominican Republic.
Melo also is charged with theft of $64,200 in United States currency, which relates to one transaction in which the cooperating witness supplied Melo with $60,000 to be wired to the Dominican Republic and paid a $4,200 remittal fee, but the money never arrived in the Dominican Republic.
The charges against Garcia relate to ten occasions when Garcia handled transactions for the cooperating witness, each of which involved more than $10,000 in cash, and Garcia failed to file a currency transaction report as required by federal law.
The indictment further alleges that between September 2004 and March 2005, Tejeda Andujar and another individual conspired to distribute at least 500 grams of cocaine. Tejeda Andujar also is charged with distributing cocaine on two specific occasions -- December 16, 2004, and March 14, 2005.
The money laundering charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The currency reporting charges are punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment to be followed by 3 years’ supervised release, and a fine of $500,000.
Theft of government property is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The drug conspiracy is punishable by at least 5 years’ imprisonment up to 40 years’ imprisonment, a $2 million fine and at least 4 years, up to life, of supervised release. The distribution counts are punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment, a $1 million fine, and at least 3 years, up to life, of supervised release.
The men were arrested Wednesday afternoon after another $100,000 “sting” transaction had been conducted. In addition to the arrests, law enforcement agents also conducted a search of Boston Envio De Valores, Inc., and seized numerous documents, computers, and other items of evidence.