Seattle – A ruthless 46-year-old woman from Marysville, Washington, has been locked away for ten years after a brutal sentence for her role in a drug-smuggling ring that included using her teenage son as a mule. Laura Rodriguez-Moreno, co-owner of the Lake Stevens restaurant Fuente de Café, was today sentenced by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour for distributing methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl.
Rodriguez-Moreno has been in custody since her September 1, 2020, arrest alongside five coconspirators, revealed U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. The judge emphasized that Rodriguez-Moreno’s involvement in the drug ring was not just about money; it also entailed subjecting her own son to danger. “She had her teenage son dealing drugs mere days after he’d been arrested with fentanyl pills,” Judge Coughenour stated.
“Ms. Rodriguez-Moreno was distributing massive quantities of meth and fentanyl, but the most chilling aspect is her exploitation of her son in this scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Brown. “Her actions endangered not only her restaurant and children but also countless innocent lives.”
The DEA’s Acting Special Agent in Charge, Jacob D. Galvan, emphasized that Rodriguez-Moreno faces justice for both distributing deadly drugs and enlisting her son in the illegal trade. He vowed to continue protecting communities from such individuals.
According to court records, Rodriguez-Moreno and her husband, Jose Morales-Flores, 39, were part of a vast drug trafficking conspiracy that stretched across Seattle and North Puget Sound. Rodriguez-Moreno admitted to distributing over 16 kilos of meth and nearly a kilo of fentanyl in her plea agreement. The DEA seized another 17 kilos of meth, almost two kilos of heroin, thousands of fentanyl pills, three firearms, and more than $100,000 cash during the arrest.
Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Andrew Colasurdo highlighted that Rodriguez-Moreno’s motivation was greed, not addiction, noting her awareness of the destruction drugs cause but her relentless pursuit of profit. On October 19, 2021, Rodriguez-Moreno’s husband was also sentenced to ten years in prison but fled after cutting off his GPS monitoring bracelet. He remains at large.
This investigation is part of a larger Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at dismantling high-level drug traffickers and criminal organizations. The DEA, Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, and Seattle law enforcement agencies led the probe into Rodriguez-Moreno’s activities.
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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