KC Business owner, co-defendant plead guilty to $4.7M drug conspiracy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An Olathe, Kan. business owner has pleaded guilty in federal court on July 1, 2024, for her involvement in a money-laundering conspiracy that transferred the proceeds of heroin and meth trafficking to Mexico. A Kansas City, Mo. woman has also pleaded guilty for her role in the conspiracy.

Ana Lilia Leal-Martinez, 48, of Mexican citizenship, residing in Overland Park, pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in a conspiracy to commit money laundering from May 23, 2020 to September 20, 2022.

Leal-Martinez is the owner of Imagen Leal in Olathe, Kan., which offers money transfer services. By pleading guilty today, Leal-Martinez admits that she accepted drug proceeds from co-conspirators such as Jose Jesus Sanchez-Mendez, also known as “Michoacano,” 41, of Mexico. According to court documents, those drug proceeds were sent by wire transfer to individuals in Michoacan, Mexico.

According to court documents, Leal-Martinez sent wire transfers totaling $83,850 to Mexico from Imagen Leal in furtherance of the money-laundering conspiracy between January 1, 2022 and June 8, 2022. The transfers were sent under assumed names to avoid detection.

Leal-Martinez is just one of 44 defendants indicted in this case. According to the court, she was identified in 2022 after Homeland Security Investigations investigated a drug-trafficking organization that distributed more than 335 kilograms of methamphetamine, 22 kilograms of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl among other drugs sourced from Mexico in the Kansas City area.

Investigators identified multiple bulk cash smugglers and drug traffickers working for the organization responsible for the $4.7 million conspiracy.

Flor Gonzalez-Celestine, 54, or Kansas City, Mo. has also pleaded guilty today to participating in a $4.7 million conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin from February 28, 2020 to September 20, 2022.

According to court documents Gonzalez-Celestine participated in four controlled drug buys that were monitored by law enforcement. She sold more than a kilogram of methamphetamine to a confidential informant and was observed in possession of approximately 2.2 additional kilograms of methamphetamine.

Sanchez-Mendez has also pleaded guilty to his role in continuing a criminal enterprise, drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies and to illegally reentering the United States. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

According to federal statutes, Leal-Martinez is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. Gonzalez-Celestine is subject to a mandatory minimum 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a life sentence in federal prison without parole. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick C. Edwards and Megan A. Baker. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Jackson County Drug Force, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Olmsted County, Minn., Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI, the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

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