Local News in Brief : Money Launderer Guilty
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A Marina del Rey man was convicted Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court of laundering $500,000 for an arm of a Colombian cocaine cartel.
Heroel Hernandez, a computer software executive, was one of many people indicted in five cities last year in “Operation Cash Web,” a nationwide FBI sweep targeting drug money launderers. His conviction completes prosecutions against nine people who were arrested after their indictments in Los Angeles. Four others were never caught.
The eight others pleaded guilty to various charges and most have received prison terms ranging from seven to 10 years, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey Eglash said.
A jury convicted Hernandez on two counts of money-laundering and one count of conspiring to aid and abet the distribution and possession of narcotics by laundering money. He faces up to 60 years in prison and a $2-million fine when he is sentenced May 9 by U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew.
A hidden camera taped Hernandez dropping off $500,000 in cash to a co-defendant at a Vernon warehouse in November, 1986, as instructed by an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a money launderer, Eglash said.
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