Olathe business owner pleads guilty to money laundering in $4.7 million drug trafficking scheme

An Olathe woman pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to money laundering, as part of a scheme to wire more than $83,000 in drug trafficking profits to Mexico.

Ana Lilia Leal-Martinez was arrested in September 2022, according to court records. Leal-Martinez is one of 44 co-defendants charged with playing various roles, according to court records, in trafficking heroin and methamphetamine between the United States and Mexico.

Leal-Martinez, 48, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, as well as three counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering. She pleaded guilty Monday to the money laundering counts.

Leal-Martinez is a citizen of Mexico but lives in Overland Park, according to the office of U.S. District Attorney Teresa A. Moore. She owns Imagen Leal, an Olathe hair salon that also offers money wire transfer services.

In federal district court Monday, Leal-Martinez admitted to accepting drug trafficking proceeds and wiring them to Michoacan, Mexico, from Imagen Leal. Several of Leal-Martinez’s co-defendants were involved in passing her the funds, most notably Jose Jesus Sanchez-Mendez, 41, of Mexico.

Between May 2020 and September 2022, Leal-Martinez allegedly wired $83,850 to Mexico from the salon, according to Moore’s office.

Federal drug investigators uncovered the larger conspiracy in 2022, according to Moore’s office. The $4.7 million trafficking operation moved more than 335 kilograms of methamphetamine and 22 kilograms of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl into the Kansas City area, according to Moore’s office and court documents.

The 44 defendants were charged with 106 criminal counts total, court documents show. Most were tasked with either smuggling drugs into Kansas City or sending money back to Mexico. One co-defendant, Flor Gonzalez-Celestine, 54, from Kansas City, Missouri, also pleaded guilty Monday after law enforcement officers monitored four drug buys in which she was involved.

For their roles in the trafficking operation, Leal-Martinez will serve up to 20 years in federal prison with a potential $250,000 fine, while Gonzalez-Celestine will serve 10 years to life. Neither is expected to be eligible for parole, according to court documents.