ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Honduran lady pleaded responsible as we speak to collaborating in a large-scale conspiracy to visitors cocaine for importation into the US.
Based on court docket paperwork, from 2006 till 2015, Erlinda Ramos-Bobadilla, aka Herlinda Bobadilla or Chinda, 62, served as a pacesetter within the Montes-Bobadilla drug-trafficking group, or “Los Montes,” one of many largest drug cartels in Honduras. Los Montes was based mostly within the city of Francia, within the Division of Colón, on the northeastern coast of Honduras. There, the group acquired maritime and clandestine air shipments of cocaine from sources in South America. Particular person shipments of cocaine often carried tons of of, and generally greater than a thousand, kilograms of cocaine. After receiving a cargo of cocaine, Los Montes labored with different drug traffickers to move the cocaine inland by Honduras into Guatemala and, finally, Mexico, the place the cocaine would then be imported into, and distributed inside, the US.
“The Los Montes cartel, underneath the management of the defendant and her household, trafficked 1000’s of kilos of illicit medicine and dedicated heinous acts of violence, together with homicide, inflicting a devastating wave of worry and destruction that reverberated from Honduras to the U.S.,” stated Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Lawyer for the Jap District of Virginia. “My appreciation goes out to all of our prosecutors and legislation enforcement companions who work tirelessly to dismantle harmful drug organizations, like Los Montes, that put so many harmless lives in danger. This effort is a message to those that proceed to function these cartels: you aren’t above the legislation, and you aren’t past our attain.”
“As we speak’s proceedings reveal DEA’s dedication to carry accountable violent criminals, home and overseas, who’re peddling lethal medicine into our nation and placing our households in danger. The Los Montes Cartel was a vicious drug trafficking group that poisoned our residents and engaged in violence to revenue from drug trafficking. Our message to felony organizations’ management is obvious, we is not going to waver till drug distribution and it’s associated violence is eradicated,” stated Jarod Overlook, Particular Agent in Cost, DEA Washington Division.
Los Montes was a family-run group. Ramos-Bobadilla’s husband was the chief of the group and she or he labored carefully with him of their cocaine-trafficking enterprise. When her husband died in 2010, their son, Noe Montes-Bobadilla, assumed management of the group. Ramos-Bobadilla continued to function a pacesetter throughout the group. Alongside along with her different sons, Ramos-Bobadilla and Noe Montes oversaw all elements of the household’s cocaine-trafficking operations.
Ramos-Bobadilla performed an energetic management position in Los Montes. Amongst different duties, she participated within the negotiation of cocaine transactions with different drug traffickers in Central and South America, managed the proceeds that the group produced from the sale of cocaine and, at instances, paid sources of provide for cocaine that Los Montes bought. Ramos-Bobadilla employed armed people to work at her course and management, together with by offering safety for her and her cocaine shipments.
Ramos-Bobadilla additionally participated in procuring, planning, and arranging acts of violence, together with murders, in furtherance of the conspiracy. For instance, Los Montes and different Honduran drug-trafficking organizations conspired to finance the homicide of the top of Honduras’s anti-drug trafficking company, in December 2009. Ramos-Bobadilla assisted in procuring Los Montes’s participation within the financing of that assassination. Alongside along with her son, Noe Montes and, with the help of one other drug trafficker, Ramos-Bobadilla additionally participated in coordinating and directing the homicide of a everlasting resident of the US in Tocoa, Honduras, in June 2013 as a result of they believed that she was a U.S. authorities informant.
Along with her participation in these acts of violence, Ramos-Bobadilla engaged in bribery in furtherance of the conspiracy. Ramos-Bobadilla and her co-conspirators made funds to public officers in Honduras, together with cops and different legislation enforcement officers, to facilitate and defend the household’s drug-trafficking operations.
On October 8, 2015, Ramos-Bobadilla and 5 co-conspirators had been charged in an indictment with conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or extra of cocaine for importation into the US. Three of Ramos-Bobadilla’s co-defendants have been convicted and sentenced on this case:
- Noe Montes-Bobadilla pleaded responsible in November 2018 and was sentenced to 37 years of imprisonment in April 2019.
- Arnulfo Fagot-Maximo was convicted by a jury in December 2018 and was sentenced to 33 years of imprisonment in Could 2019.
- Jose del Trancito Garcia-Teruel pleaded responsible in June 2021 and was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in February 2022.
One co-defendant, Tito Montes-Bobadilla, aka Alejandro Montes-Bobadilla or Pimpi, is deceased.
The remaining co-defendant, Juan Carlos Montes-Bobadilla, aka Mono, continues to be a fugitive on this case. The U.S. Division of State is providing a reward as much as $5 million for info resulting in the arrest and/or conviction of Juan Carlos Montes Bobadilla. He’s presumed harmless till confirmed responsible past an inexpensive doubt in a court docket of legislation.
Erlinda Ramos-Bobadilla is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28, 2023. She faces a compulsory minimal time period of imprisonment of 10 years and most penalty of life in jail. Precise sentences for federal crimes are sometimes lower than the utmost penalties. A federal district court docket decide will decide any sentence after making an allowance for the U.S. Sentencing Tips and different statutory components.
Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Lawyer for the Jap District of Virginia, and Jarod Overlook, Particular Agent in Cost of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Washington Division, made the announcement after U.S. District Decide Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea.
Help within the investigation and prosecution was supplied by the Virginia State Police, FBI’s Washington Subject Workplace, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplaces for the Southern District of New York, the Center District of Florida, and the Southern District of Florida. Help was additionally supplied by the Honduran Nationwide Police.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas W. Traxler, Anthony T. Aminoff, and James L. Trump of the Jap District of Virginia and Trial Attorneys Douglas Meisel and Janet Turnbull of the Prison Division’s Narcotic and Harmful Drug Part are prosecuting the case. The Justice Division’s Workplace of Worldwide Affairs supplied substantial help in securing the arrest and extradition of Ramos-Bobadilla.
This case is being investigated as a part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Job Power (OCDETF) Operation Harpoon. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, cash launderers, gangs, and transnational felony organizations that threaten the US by utilizing a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency method that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and native legislation enforcement companies towards felony networks.
A replica of this press launch is positioned on the web site of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Jap District of Virginia. Associated court docket paperwork and knowledge are positioned on the web site of the District Court for the Jap District of Virginia or on PACER by looking for Case No. 1:15-cr-290.
