https://www.aroundosceola.com/news/five-kissimmee-part-drug-trafficking-money-laundering-indictment

The Department of Justice and Middle District of Florida announced four indictments charging a total of 12 individuals — including five from Kissimmee — with murder in furtherance of drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, illegal possession of firearms, and bank fraud.

Santos Cruz Rivera, 44, Madelyn “La Negra” Sanchez, 50, and Roberto Rodriguez Almodovar, 59, face counts that include drug trafficking conspiracy, distribution of controlled substances, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, maintaining a drug premises, possessing a firearm while a convicted felon, and money laundering conspiracy, for which they could be sentenced to life in prison.

Yesenia Laracuente, 35, and Wilmary Sepulveda, 36, face indictments for money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy that could carry a 20-year federal sentence.

The indictments also seek the forfeiture of more than $6.5 million identified as the amount involved in the offenses and proceeds of the offenses, two properties, and firearms.

According to the Justice Department's documents in the indictments, there was a multi-year conspiracy to traffic cocaine and fentanyl within the Middle District of Florida, resulting in several seizures of both substances.

On August 3, 2021, in retaliation for the killing of a lookout at a stash house the organization used, Almodovar murdered one of the individuals present at the homicide with a single gunshot to the back of the head.

In another scheme charged across two of the indictments, Laracuente and Sepulveda conspired to falsely report Laracuente’s employment and income to secure a mortgage that Cruz Rivera then made payments on in Laracuente’s name with drug proceeds.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration; Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Osceola County Sheriff’s Office; and Kissimmee Police Department, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, the Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.