{"id":2252488,"date":"2024-05-24T20:16:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T00:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-indiana-beauty-queen-arrested-in-mexican-drug-cartel-bust\/"},"modified":"2024-05-24T20:19:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T00:19:19","slug":"former-indiana-beauty-queen-arrested-in-mexican-drug-cartel-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-indiana-beauty-queen-arrested-in-mexican-drug-cartel-bust\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Beauty Queen Arrested in Mexican Drug Cartel Raid"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-indiana-beauty-queen-arrested-in-mexican-drug-cartel-bust%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2252488&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Two bank workers\u200c and a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/south-africa-urges-its-beauty-queen-to-boycott-miss-universe-in-israel\/\" title=\"South Africa Urges its Beauty Queen to Boycott Miss Universe in Israel\">beauty pageant winner<\/a> from Indiana\u2063 are facing charges\u200c for aiding a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization in money laundering. The indictment \u200bfound their involvement in transporting narcotics proceeds. The trio&#8217;s connection to a\u200d drug cartel was exposed during an investigation in 2021. \u2063Various individuals are implicated in the\u2064 illicit scheme, with arraignments pending.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<header> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/news\/\">  News <\/a>   <span> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/ajose\/\">  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p> <span>   By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/ajose\/%20\"><span>Andrew Jose<\/span><\/a> <\/span> <span>   May 24, 2024 at 3:20pm <\/span> <\/span>  <\/header>\n<section>\n<p>Two bank workers and a former beauty pageant winner from Indiana have been charged with assisting a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization with money laundering.<\/p>\n<p>The federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-ndil\/media\/1352746\/dl?inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">indictment<\/a> related to the case was unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-ndil\/pr\/flight-attendant-and-two-bank-employees-charged-federal-indictment-alleged-mexico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news release<\/a> from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>Glenis Zapata, a 34-year-old former Miss Indiana Latina, used to work as a flight attendant on commercial airline flights, where she would use the privileges as a \u201cKnown Crew Member\u201d with a badge to transport narcotics proceeds from the Midwest to the South and Mexico, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n<p>Zapata, who is from Lafayette, Indiana, faces two counts of federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ex-twitter-manager-slapped-three-year-prison-sentence-spying-saudi-arabia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">money laundering<\/a> charges, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n<p>One count is for an instance on Aug. 7, 2019, when she allegedly helped move approximately $170,000; the other is for an instance on Sept. 10, 2019, when she is accused of transporting about\u00a0 $140,000.<\/p>\n<p>The flight attendant\u2019s alleged role in the scheme came to light during an investigation into a Mexico-based drug cartel led by 41-year-old Oswaldo Espinosa.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation was taking place in 2021 when federal agents <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-ndil\/pr\/federal-law-enforcement-chicago-seizes-private-plane-and-100-kilograms-cocaine-three\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">impounded<\/a> a private plane and 100 kilograms of cocaine as part of a raid in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>Glenis Zapata allegedly had collaborated with her sister and bank worker, Ilenis Zapata, 33, and bank employee Georgina Banuelos, 39, in the scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Ilenis Zapata and Banuelos aided the money laundering efforts by changing the cash comprising the illegally trafficked narcotic revenue from lower-denominated bills to higher-denominated ones, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-container\">\n<p>Do we need increased border security immediately?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Banuelos, prosecutors allege, engaged in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/feds-knew-1b-human-trafficking-transactions-epsteins-death\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transaction<\/a> while knowing that it was \u201cdesigned in whole and in part to avoid a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/apparent-irs-leak-reveals-thousands-of-wealthy-americans-confidential-tax-data\/\" title=\"Apparent IRS Leak Reveals \u2018Thousands\u2019 of Wealthy Americans\u2019 Confidential Tax Data\">transaction reporting requirement<\/a> under Federal law\u201d and that the money in question \u201cinvolved the proceeds of a specified unlawful activity,\u201d court documents said.<\/p>\n<p>The bank workers are accused on three counts: one for a time on July 9, 2019, when they helped launder around $150,000 worth of money; the second on Aug. 6, 2019, involving approximately $100,000; and a third for Oct. 24, 2019, when they helped launder about $150,000, court documents said.<\/p>\n<p>The trio were part of Espinosa\u2019s network, which went from Mexico to Chicago and spanned several U.S. cities, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>The network\u2019s assets, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/majority-of-new-federal-climate-funds-in-pennsylvania-to-help-repave-parking-lots\/\" title=\"Majority of New Federal \"Climate Funds\" in Pennsylvania to Help Repave Parking Lots\">news release noted<\/a>, included warehouses, garages and stash houses in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office said Espinosa was the organization\u2019s main manager, while Mexican-national Jorge Borbon-Ochoa, 46, governed the cartel\u2019s work in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>Ricardo Tello, a 37-year-old from Mission, Texas, worked as the group\u2019s drug runner, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>Tello allegedly would smuggle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/jesse-watters-obtains-wh-cocaine-docs-says-everything-told-us-lie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cocaine<\/a> in large amounts from Mexico to various cities in the U.S. between 2018 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The arraignments for the trio\u2019s charges have yet to be scheduled, the news release stated.<\/p>\n<p>______________________________________________<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">An Important Message from Our Staff:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">In just a few months, the world is going to change forever. 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Covers international affairs, security, and U.S. politics. Master of Arts in Security Policy Studies candidate at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>  News reporter and international affairs analyst published and syndicated in over 100 national and international outlets, including The National Interest, The Daily Caller, and The Western Journal. Covers international affairs, security, and U.S. politics. Master of Arts in Security Policy Studies candidate at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @RealAndrewJose <\/p>\n<p>  Education <\/p>\n<p>  Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service <\/p>\n<p>  Location <\/p>\n<p>  Washington, District of Columbia <\/p>\n<p>  Languages Spoken <\/p>\n<p>  English, Spanish, Tamil, Hindi, French, Russian <\/p>\n<p>  Topics of Expertise <\/p>\n<p>  International Politics, National Security, U.S. Politics <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two bank employees and an ex-Indiana beauty queen face charges for aiding a Mexican drug cartel in money laundering. The federal indictment, unsealed at the U.S. District Court in Chicago on Friday, reveals the involvement of the trio in a Mexico-based trafficking scheme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":2252489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Untitled-design-2024-05-24T175449.664.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2252488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Untitled-design-2024-05-24T175449.664.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2252488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2252489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2252488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2252488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2252488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}