Oklahoma City Resident Pleads Guilty To Drug And Money Laundering Conspiracy

 MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Lilliana Alvarez Soto, age 22, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma entered a guilty plea to Drug Conspiracy in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, punishable by not less than 10 years and not more than life imprisonment, a fine up to $10,000,000.00, or both; and to  Money Laundering Conspiracy, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(2)(A), punishable by not more than 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine up to $500,000.00, or both. 

The Indictment alleged that beginning on November 4, 2016 and continuing until on or about the date of Indictment, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, LILLIANA ALVAREZ SOTO did willfully and knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with others known and unknown, including Enrique Pacheco, to violate federal drug laws by acquiring kilograms of heroin and distributing it for money.

The Indictment further alleged that from on or about July 15, 2019 through on or about the date of Indictment, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, the defendant, did knowingly combine, conspire, and agree with others, persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to commit offenses against the United States in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956, to wit:  to transport, transmit and transfer and attempt to transport, transmit and transfer a monetary instrument and funds from a place in the United States to and through a place outside the United States with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity. 

The charges arose from a joint investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office, the Muskogee Police Department, and the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, many prominent agencies which are members of the DEA High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (“HIDTA”), contributed to this investigation, including: the Tulsa Police Department, the Broken Arrow Police Department, the Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse Police Department, the Miami Police Department, the Moore Police Department, the El Reno Police Department,  the Yukon Police Department, the Duncan Police Department, the Norman Police Department, the Choctaw Police Department, the Edmond Police Department, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office, the Rogers County District Attorney’s Office, and the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office. The investigation was coordinated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) of the Eastern District of Oklahoma. OCDETF is an initiative led and coordinated by the Office of the United States Attorney.

The Honorable Kimberly E. West, U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report.

Assistant United States Attorney Rob Wallace and Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Conway represented the United States.