Kansas City Woman Pleads Guilty to $1 Million Drug Trafficking Conspiracy
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 24, 2009 |
KANSAS CITY, MO—Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., woman pleaded guilty in federal court today to her role in a $1 million drug trafficking conspiracy that primarily operated in the Northeast area of Kansas City.
Operation Suspicious Minds resulted in a series of three indictments that were returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Nov. 18, 2008. In total, 23 defendants were charged in separate but related cases for their involvement in drug-trafficking conspiracies as well as firearms and immigration violations.
Dora Elena San-Miguel, 44, a citizen of Mexico residing in Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs this morning to participating in a conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, five kilograms or more of cocaine, and 50 kilograms or more of marijuana since Jan. 1, 2006.
San-Miguel also pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. San-Miguel was in possession of a Rohm .38-caliber pistol.
By pleading guilty today, San-Miguel agreed to forfeit to the government $1 million, which represents the proceeds of the conspiracy, and her interest in two residential properties.
San-Miguel is the fifth defendant to plead guilty. Co-defendants Marlon Millan, 25, a citizen of Mexico residing in Kansas City, Mo., William Scott Bowen, 40, of Salisbury, Mo., and Luis Chavez-Hernandez, 35, and Veronica Pena-Baca, 31, both citizens of Mexico, have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen D. Mahoney and Joseph M. Marquez. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Metro Drug Task Force and the Jackson County Drug Task Force.