Lake Stevens restaurant owner sentenced for drug trafficking

SNOHOMISH DISTRICT, Wash. — A Marysville woman was sentenced to prison on Thursday, three years after an investigation revealed a drug-trafficking operation involving her Lake Stevens restaurant of which she and her former husband co-owned. possess.

Laura Rodriguez-Moreno, 46, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for distributing methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl. In the plea agreement, Rodriguez-Moreno admitted to distributing more than 35 pounds of meth and nearly 2 pounds of fentanyl.

Rodriguez-Moreno was arrested in September 2020 after a months-long investigation revealed she played a leading role in a major drug trafficking ring. Her husband, Jose Morales-Flores, 39, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2021 but has been on the run since.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration first suspected Rodriguez-Moreno and Morales-Flores of being part of a Peinado drug trafficking operation in the spring of 2020 and that they were distributing drugs out of their restaurant. at Lake Stevens.

During the investigation, law enforcement agents tracked down Rodriguez-Moreno as she directed her son to deliver 10 pounds of methamphetamine to a customer in the restaurant, days after her son was arrested with a large number of fentanyl drugs.

Rodriguez-Moreno was arrested for possession of more than 37 pounds of meth, more than four pounds of heroin, fentanyl, three guns and more than $100,000 in cash.

“Multiple Sclerosis. Rodriguez-Moreno distributed large quantities of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills. But the most shocking thing was that she let her teenage son participate in the distribution of drugs at the direction of the drug dealer. “She and her husband put their restaurant and the safety of their five children in jeopardy when they became drug dealers. Now,” said US Attorney Nick Brown. those children are without parents for a considerable time.”

The investigation, part of the Organized Drug Crime Task Force, was conducted by the DEA, the Snohomish Area Drug Task Force, the Seattle Police Department, the FBI, and the Joint Anti-Drugs Unit. local Skagit.

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