Oregon DEA Bust Ends With 11 Year Sentence for Drug Kingpin Who Laundered Millions Through Tualatin Salon
A Mexican national was yesterday sentenced to 11 years and three months in a federal prison for conspiring to distribute drugs in Oregon and to launder money through his fiancée’s beauty salon in Tualatin.
Huge Amounts of Drugs and Cash Were Seized by DEA Agents
Luis Antonio Beltran Arredondo (35) is the 12th and final member of a drug trafficking organization that operated in Oregon, Washington, and California, where agents seized 41 pounds of methamphetamine, 26 kilograms of heroin, 115,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, and in excess of $348,000. The operation occurred between October 21 and February 2022.
According to court documents, Arredondo and his girlfriend, Jacqueline Paola Rodriguez Barrientos, laundered the proceeds from drug sales through her Mazatlán Beauty Salon in Tualatin. She is currently serving a sentence in a federal prison for her role in the money laundering operation.
The high-flying couple lived a luxurious lifestyle. When they were arrested on February 17, 2022, at their Las Vegas home, DEA agents seized two luxury vehicles, credit card statements showing they had spent $16,000 on tickets to a professional boxing match, and several receipts for high-end retail purchases.
The Couple Invested Heavily in Real Estate
Investigations revealed that the couple had invested in real estate, purchasing nine properties worth more than $4.6 million for cash in Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. Arredondo had directed the purchases with laundered funds from the sale of drugs.
They earned rental incomes from the properties, which were bought with cashier’s checks and large cash deposits.
According to bank records, Barrientos frequently deposited large amounts of money into her private and beauty salon bank accounts, ranging from $10,000 to $373,000. In total, Barrientos deposited $3.5 million in a nine-month-period in 2021.
Court records reveal that agents from the Portland U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began investigating the drug trafficking cartel in the fall of 2021.
The drug traffickers were suspected of transporting and selling fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine in Oregon, Washington, and California.
Meanwhile, a parallel investigation was led by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation 9IRS-CI) on Barrientos. She was sentenced last year in October.
Arredondo pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and heroin, and conspiracy to launder the cash proceeds. Apart from his prison sentence, Arredondo was also sentenced to five years of supervised release and is expected to be deported after serving his sentence.
Five of the properties bought by the couple have been forfeited to the government and sold, while the remaining four properties are in forfeiture proceedings.