Multiple money laundering and drug indictments follow HSI Kansas City investigation

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal grand jury in Kansas City returned an indictment charging multiple people for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine within the state of Kansas and elsewhere between February 2020 and July 2023.

According to court documents, Jose Roman, 43, Marcos Valencia Jr, 32, Ezequil Castro, 37, and Juan Gonzalez, all of Kansas City, Kansas; Manuel Alvarez, 28, of Seneca, Manuel Faudoa, 23, of Dodge City and Gerardo Sierra-Martinez, 21, of Kansas City, Missouri, are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Roman is also charged with five counts of distribution of methamphetamine and one count of money laundering.

Sierra-Martinez is charged with two counts of money laundering for allegedly sending money wire transfers totaling $55,500 to a person in Mexico City in order to promote unlawful activity. He is also charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine.

Gonzalez and Faudoa are charged with two counts of distribution of methamphetamine, and Alvarez is charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the FBI; the Jackson County, Missouri Drug Task Force; the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department; the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Nebraska Highway Patrol; and the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Krug is prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. The specific mission of the OCDETF Kansas City Metro Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle major criminal organizations and subsidiary organizations, including criminal gangs, transnational drug cartels, racketeering organizations, and other groups engaged in illicit activities that present a threat to public safety and national security and are related to the illegal smuggling and trafficking of narcotics or other controlled substances, weapons, humans, or the illegal concealment or transfer of proceeds derived from such illicit activities in the Western District of Missouri and District of Kansas. The OCDETF Kansas City Metro Strike Force comprises agents and officers from HIS in Kansas City, Missouri, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the United States Marshal Service (USMS), the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Missouri (USAO-WDMO), the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas (USAO-KS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigation Division (IRS/CID), the United States Secret Service (USSS), and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Kansas.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

Learn more about our mission to counter illegal narcotics in the community on X, formerly known as Twitter, @HSIKansasCity.