Federal authorities have arrested a former beauty queen and two bank employees in Indiana for collaborating with a Mexican cartel to traffic drugs into the country, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
The three individuals are accused of allegedly “moving thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States and laundering tens of millions of dollars in proceeds,” the DOJ’s explained. The indictment, unsealed Friday, also “charges flight attendant GLENIS ZAPATA, 34, of Lafayette, Ind., with assisting the traffickers in the transportation of drug proceeds on commercial airline flights.
” Before becoming a flight attendant, Zapata was 2011’s Miss Indiana Latina, according to . The former beauty queen is alleged to have “possessed a ‘Known Crew Member’ badge and used her authority to help the move cash drug proceeds from the Midwest to the southern part of the U.S.
and into Mexico,” according to the DOJ. The alleged also involved the use of semi-trailer trucks and private charter airplanes to transport the contraband, the Justice Department noted. Glenis Zapata, 34, was named Miss Indiana Latina in 2011.
Now, she’s named in a grandy jury indictment. — WLFI News 18 (@WLFI) Also facing charges are Ilenis Zapata, 33, and Georgina Banuelos, 39, for helping “launder the drug proceeds by exchanging lower denominated bills for higher denominated bills,” according to the press release. The release did not specify whether Glenis and Ilenis are related,.
