OAKLAND — An Oakland resident was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for using his money moving business to launder drug proceeds for narcotics traffickers, court records show.
Felipe de Jesus Ornelas Mora, 51, wrote a letter of apology to the court, calling his decision “the worst mistake of my life” and that it cost him his business, Rincon Musical, as well as his freedom. After being indicted by the federal government in 2022, Ornelas Mora lost his business and ended up working as a shelf restocker for a local retailer.
“There is no excuse for what I did. Regardless of my fear of saying no to the drug dealers who came to my business, I should have called the police,” he wrote in the apology letter. “I would do anything to go back in time and do the right thing.”
Ornelas Mora was indicted along with three other people whose cases are still ongoing. His co-defendants, Veronica Mora, Grisela Cancelada-Liceaga and Yoselin Perez-Ramirez, worked at a similar company in Oakland called America Latina. Mora and Perez-Ramirez also worked as cashiers at Rincon Musical, according to prosecutors. All four were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence, arguing that Ornelas Mora showed sophistication by using false IDs and small money transfers to Mexico and Honduras to avoid detection by the government, while being fully aware that it was laundering money for drug traffickers.
The defense argued for leniency, saying Ornelas Mora’s family would suffer if he was incarcerated for a long time. He also has health problems, including hearing loss in both ears after falling into a sewer as a child, his lawyers said.
California Daily Newspapers
