Two bank workers and a former beauty pageant winner from Indiana have been charged with assisting a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization with money laundering. The federal related to the case was unsealed Friday in U.S.
District Court in Chicago, according to a from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
Glenis Zapata, a 34-year-old former Miss Indiana Latina, used to work as a flight attendant on commercial airline flights, where she would use the privileges as a “Known Crew Member” with a badge to transport narcotics proceeds from the Midwest to the South and Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Zapata, who is from Lafayette, Indiana, faces two counts of federal charges, according to the indictment. One count is for an instance on Aug. 7, 2019, when she allegedly helped move approximately $170,000; the other is for an instance on Sept.
10, 2019, when she is accused of transporting about $140,000. The flight attendant’s alleged role in the scheme came to light during an investigation into a Mexico-based drug cartel led by 41-year-old Oswaldo Espinosa. The investigation was taking place in 2021 when federal agents a private plane and 100 kilograms of cocaine as part of a raid in Chicago.
Glenis Zapata allegedly had collaborated with her sister and bank worker, Ilenis Zapata, 33, and bank employee Georgina Banuelos, 39, in the scheme. Ilenis Zapata and Banuelos aided the money laundering efforts by changing the cash comprising the.
