Date: November 13, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov DENVER — The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that Catyria Lopez-Gomez of Fort Collins, Colorado, was sentenced to 6 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for drug trafficking and money laundering. According to the plea agreement, the defendant helped launder money for a drug trafficking organization in the Western Colorado. She also recruited others to help send drug proceeds to Mexico. Additionally, she picked up large quantities of methamphetamine from Phoenix, Arizona and drove it to Montrose, Colorado. Once in Montrose, the drugs would be distributed. "Drug trafficking, and the money-laundering that finances it, are crimes against the community," said U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan. "We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their efforts to curb these criminal activities." "IRS Special Agents are experts in disrupting and dismantling drug trafficking organizations by targeting their illegal profits used to finance their operations," said Andy Tsui, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) Denver Field Office. "CI, our law enforcement partners, and the United States Attorney's Office will continue to work together to eliminate this threat to our communities." CI, the DEA, the Montrose Police Department, the Montrose County Sheriff's Office, the Seventh Judicial District Drug Task Force, and the United States Marshals Service investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander Duncan, Susan (Zeke) Knox, and Zachary Phillips handled the prosecution. This prosecution is a result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten communities throughout the United States. OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
