Five people were indicted Thursday in a money laundering and marijuana trafficking case involving about $2.8 million.
The warrants were served in Tucson, Pima and Pinal counties by special agents with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office with the assistance of the Pima County and Pinal County sheriff’s departments.
The state Department of Economic Security Office of the Inspector General also assisted in the multi-agency investigation, which involved $216,000 in state benefits fraud, according to officials from the state Attorney General’s Office.
Those indicted in the case were alleged ringleaders Carlos David Nogales Sr., 46, and Carlos David Nogales Jr., 23, Jasmine Sandoval, 23, Peter Jackson, 52, and Layza Sandoval, 32, officials said.
Each is charged with fraudulent schemes and artifices, forgery, money laundering, transportation of marijuana for sale and illegally conducting and controlling an enterprise, officials said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department Narcotics and Special Investigations Section was involved in the money-laundering investigation, said Deputy Courtney Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the department.
Nine arrest warrants were issued in the investigation and eight other arrests are pending, Rodriguez said.
The locations searched were in the:
18600 block of West Shedd Road, Casa Grande.
7000 block of South Prospector Peak Drive, Tucson.
5800 block of East Klafter Road, Tucson.
400 block of East Wilcox Lane, Tucson.
100 block of East Corona Street, Tucson.
4500 block of South Liberty Avenue, Tucson.
And, the 6400 block of South Camino de la Tierra, Tucson.
Marijuana was found in at least two of the locations, but officials did not release the amount or the addresses.
Officials said the investigation began in April and “the suspects were involved in an elaborate” criminal enterprise, according to a news release.
Authorities said the suspects funneled more than $2.8 million through bank accounts across the United States. They allegedly mailed marijuana to locations mostly on the East Coast, and money was then deposited into the suspects’ bank accounts at the East Coast locations. Then the suspects withdrew that money from the East Coast bank accounts and deposited it into accounts in Arizona, investigators allege.
The suspects also were allegedly receiving aid from the state Department of Economic Security and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which is medical insurance for the poor, by forging applications that misrepresented their income, bank accounts and assets, officials said.
The investigation began after state authorities noticed inconsistencies in one of the suspect’s application for public benefits and forwarded the information to the Attorney General’s Office. Special agents then discovered additional suspects and uncovered the alleged money laundering and drug trafficking syndicate, authorities said.
