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Press Release

Last Three Defendants In Drug Trafficking And Money Laundering Case Plead Guilty

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho

Two others pleaded guilty earlier this year

POCATELLO - California residents Reynalda Estrada-Gutierrez, 38, of Bakersfield, Porfirio Gutierrez, 37, of Los Angeles, and Araxy Suarez, 22, of Downey, pleaded guilty this week to charges involving conspiracy, drug trafficking, and money laundering, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Estrada-Gutierrez pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and launder drug trafficking proceeds. Gutierrez pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder drug trafficking proceeds and possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it. Suarez pleaded guilty to travelling in aid of unlawful activity. The three co-defendants were charged in a superseding indictment by a federal grand jury in Pocatello on November 26, 2013.

According to court records, Estrada-Gutierrez distributed just over 900 grams of methamphetamine in the Burley, Idaho area between April and November 2013. During the same time period, she arranged to be paid for the methamphetamine through cash deposits and wire transfers into various bank accounts. Gutierrez admitted to helping Estrada-Gutierrez launder these payments and to selling methamphetamine at Estrada-Gutierrez’s direction. Additionally, Gutierrez admitted to driving from California to Idaho in early November 2013, with approximately 15 ounces of methamphetamine, intending to sell eight ounces to one individual for $8,800. Gutierrez was arrested before making that sale, and upon his arrest, law enforcement agents discovered bank cards for six different accounts and two California driver’s licenses in Gutierrez’s wallet. Suarez helped Gutierrez drive the methamphetamine from California to Idaho and was seen by law enforcement exiting Gutierrez’s rented vehicle with approximately six ounces of the methamphetamine prior to her arrest.

Co-defendants Raquel Rios, 24, and Angelina Nava, 32, both of Burley, Idaho, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges. Rios pleaded guilty on August 27, 2014, to distributing methamphetamine on September 30, 2013, and Nava pleaded guilty on October 29, 2014, to possessing with intent to deliver methamphetamine on November 6, 2013.

Estrada-Gutierrez faces a possible prison sentence of 10 years to life, a maximum fine of $10,500,000, and up to a life term of supervised release. Similarly, Gutierrez faces a possible prison sentence of five to 60 years, up to a life term of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $5,500,000. Nava faces a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years, a maximum fine of $1,000,000, and up to a life term of supervised release. For travelling in aid of unlawful activity, Suarez may be sentenced to up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

Rios was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison on November 7, 2014. Sentencing is set for Estrada-Gutierrez, Gutierrez on March 10, 2015, and for Suarez on March 11, 2015, and for Nava on January 13, 2015, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by the Minidoka and Cassia County Sheriffs’ Offices and Idaho State Police, with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Updated December 15, 2014

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