Sathtra Em, Drug Conspiracy and Money Laundering, Massachusetts 2024

A Lowell woman has been found guilty of conspiring to smuggle drugs into a Virginia prison. Sathtra Em, 36, of Lowell, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances and launder drug proceeds in Massachusetts and Virginia.

According to federal authorities, between December 2019 and May 2021, Em allegedly helped codefendant Michael Mao smuggle MDMA and buprenorphine into the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia. Em allegedly paid a prison guard, Kenneth Owen, $1,600 to receive the drugs in the mail and deliver them to Mao in the prison.

Em also allegedly mailed magazines into the prison with Suboxone sublingual films hidden in between pages glued together. Mao allegedly sold the smuggled drugs to other inmates at the correctional center, and Em collected the drug debts on behalf of Mao using Google Voice phone numbers to contact the inmates' friends and families, and electronic payment applications such as Cash App and PayPal to receive the funds transfers.

In a separate conspiracy, Em purchased a home in the Centralville neighborhood of Lowell in 2015. She lived there with codefendant Sarath Yut until 2017. Yut was a regional drug trafficker and a leader of the Lowell-based gang, One Family Clique. Em and Yut agreed to deposit cash proceeds of Yut's illegal drug trafficking activity into Em's bank accounts to pay the mortgage for the Centralville home.

Yut gave Em $1,500 cash every month to deposit into her bank account for the mortgage. Between October 2016 and January 2021, Em used at least $76,775 of drug proceeds to pay the mortgage for the Centralville home.

Em pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute MDMA and buprenorphine, and two counts of money laundering conspiracy. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for July 11, 2024. The charge of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute MDMA and buprenorphine provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to life of supervised release, and a fine of up to $1 million.

The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000, or twice the amount of the property involved, whichever is greater. Both charges also include forfeiture of assets traceable to or involved in the distribution and laundering offenses.

Sarath Yut, a codefendant, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering offenses and was sentenced in October 2023 to 15 years in prison.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/lowell-woman-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-smuggle-drugs-virginia-prison