Indiana car dealer sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for racketeering, money laundering conspiracy

INDIANAPOLIS — The owner of three car dealerships in Indiana was sentenced Tuesday to 108 months in federal prison for managing a criminal organization that laundered proceeds from illegal drug sales.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case with the assistance of the FBI, IRS, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and Indiana State Police.

Saul Rodriguez-Soto, 39, of Indianapolis, operated SR Bulls Auto Sales LLC, Bulls Auto Sales II Inc., and Chicago Auto Sales LLC. He was also ordered to three years of supervised release following his sentence.

Rodriguez-Soto and the three car dealerships were members and associates of the Bulls Auto Enterprise, a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in money laundering and other criminal violations.

The objectives of Rodriguez-Soto and the Bulls Auto Enterprise included funding the business through, among other things, money laundering, attempted currency reporting violations, and currency reporting violations for financial gain.

Rodriguez-Soto and the Bulls Auto Enterprise engaged in financial transactions with the proceeds of illegal drug trafficking.

Specifically, drug traffickers would purchase vehicles from the Bulls Auto Enterprise using drug proceeds. Rodriguez-Soto concealed the ownership of those vehicles by titling the vehicles in another individual’s name and avoid the currency reporting requirements.

Rodriguez-Soto was the organizer and manager of the Bulls Auto Enterprise.

Toward that end, he taught others in the enterprise to knowingly avoid the currency reporting requirements, and to falsify the car sales paperwork on cars knowingly sold to drug traffickers, so as to conceal the actual purchaser of the car and to inaccurately reflect that there were liens on the cars sold to drug traffickers.

Others involved in the Bulls Auto Enterprise received the following sentences on these dates:

• Alejandro Rodriguez Soto - June 7, 2019, five months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release.
• Abel Rodriguez - Sept. 13, 2019, 18 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release.
• Jasmin Kay Pottorff - Oct. 4, 2018, time served and three years’ supervised release.
• Octavio Mojica Gutierrez: Aug. 9, 2019, 92 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release.
• Juan Rodriguez is a wanted fugitive.

“The laundering of illegal drug profits is as important and essential to drug traffickers as the distribution of their illegal drugs,” said Kathy Enstrom, special agent in charge for IRS-Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office. “Today’s sentencing reinforces that IRS Criminal Investigation is dedicated to finding individuals who are involved in these laundering schemes and holding them responsible.”

“To disrupt the sale of illegal drugs, that often is the impetus for violence, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and our law enforcement partners will continue to use focused law enforcement strategies to identify and hold accountable those contributing to these types of criminal enterprises,” Police Chief Randal Taylor said.

“I am extremely proud of the work our investigators conducted in collaboration with their colleagues from the FBI, IRS, HSI and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department,” said Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter. “The results of this case reiterate our continued commitment to suppress this type of criminal activity and ultimately hold those who perpetrate these crimes accountable for their actions.”

“With the sentencing of the leader of this group, the message is loud and clear: If your business includes enabling drug traffickers to move their product and laundering their dirty money, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will aggressively work to identify you and ensure you pay the price for your fraudulent schemes,” said Grant Mendenhall, special agent in charge for FBI Indianapolis.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Brady prosecuted this case for the government.

“Bulls Auto Enterprise was a criminal organization whose leader used his business as a sanctuary to perpetrate an elaborate and interrelated scheme to launder money and affect interstate commerce,” said Minkler. “Our message to other businesses whose model is to operate and profit from the illegal drug trade is simple. We stand ready to enforce federal laws to shut down your business and move you to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.”