LOS ANGELES – The owner of El Rodeo nightclub in Pico Rivera was named Friday in a federal grand jury indictment that charges him with using his bar and another one he controlled in Moreno Valley to launder drug proceeds on behalf of Mexican drug traffickers, officials said.
Edgar De Dios Fragoso, 38, of Hacienda Heights, wrote more than $200,000 to drug traffickers, officials said.
Fragoso was named today in an eight-count indictment that charges him with conspiracy to launder money and seven counts of money laundering. He was arrested on a criminal complaint that charged him with money laundering on February 23, and he was subsequently freed on a $100,000 bond.
If he is convicted, Fragoso is facing up to 20 years for each of the eight charges in the indictment.
Friday’s indictment alleges that Fragoso conspired to launder drug proceeds through the two El Rodeo locations for an unnamed trafficker who imported methamphetamine into the United States.
According to court documents, the drug trafficker funneled the cash collected from methamphetamine sales to Fragoso, who delivered the money to the drug organization under the guise that the payments were for business and financial services.
In addition to money laundering conspiracy, Fragoso is charged in seven substantive counts of money laundering for allegedly issuing more than $200,000 in checks to a fictitious drug trafficking organization.
The case was investigated by the DEA and IRS – Criminal Investigation in an undercover operation.
Fragoso is scheduled to be arraigned on March 13.