A press conference was held at the Melbourne Police Department Thursday morning with multiple law enforcement agencies in attendance. A multi-agency drug task force that targeted drug traffickers in Brevard County named Operation Spring Cleaning resulted in 64 arrests, the seizure of more than $130,000 and large amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, cannabis, and illegal prescription drugs. Operation Spring Cleaning
San Diego, California – Hector Alejandro Paez Garcia, an attorney based in Mexico City, has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring with others to transport, transmit, and transfer tens of millions of dollars in drug trafficking proceeds from the United States to Mexico. His plea is part of a years-long FBI investigation into a Mexico-based money laundering organization (MLO) that laundered at least $52.7 million for the Sinaloa Cartel before its leadership was dismantled.
According to court documents, the MLO operated through a web of shell companies in San Diego. MLO used these entities to process large sums of cash collected from across the U.S., generated through the cartel’s drug importation and distribution network. MLO operatives traveled to dozens of cities to retrieve bulk cash—sometimes as much as $200,000 at a time—which was then laundered through these companies and routed to bank accounts in Mexico under the control of Paez.
Paez admitted in his plea agreement that he held a managerial role within the organization, overseeing the movement of illicit funds. As the FBI began to dismantle the MLO’s financial operations, Paez and others turned to cryptocurrency to hide their assets from law enforcement. However, agents were able to penetrate the group’s digital laundering network, further crippling its ability to operate.
Throughout the investigation, the FBI seized 66 money laundering bank accounts across the United States. The crackdown has so far led to 11 arrests and the seizure of over $3.1 million in criminal proceeds. A related DEA operation added another 24 arrests and confiscated an additional $450,000 in assets.
In March 2025, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on six individuals and seven entities, including some of Paez’s co-conspirators, for their roles in supporting the Sinaloa Cartel.
Paez is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15, 2025.
Others charged in connection with the scheme include Miguel Angel Encinas Gomez of Mexicali, who pleaded guilty to laundering $35 million; Colombian national Hugo Andres Velasquez Pantza, who was arrested in Rome and extradited to the U.S.; and James Harmon Yarbrough of Florida, who admitted to helping convert illicit funds into cryptocurrency.
Additional participants, including Victoria Johanna Lopez, Jose Jesus Lopez, Jose Mayorga Martinez, and Jhonatan Suarez Florez, have also pleaded guilty to their roles in handling and transmitting bulk cash. One alleged leader of the MLO, Alberto David Benguait Jimenez, remains at large.
