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$33K Laundered, Vehicles Sold To Drug Traffickers By PA Car Dealership: Usdoj

A Lancaster car dealership laundered more than $33,000 in drug money through vehicle sales, leading to federal prison sentences for two men, prosecutors announced on Monday, Jan. 27.

Christopher Lopez, 41, and Michael Torres, 43, both of Lancaster, were sentenced after being convicted of conspiring to launder cash proceeds represented as cocaine sales, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Lopez, the owner of C&D Motorsports, received one year and one day in prison, while Torres, a salesperson, was sentenced to six months. Both were also ordered to serve one year of supervised release following their prison terms, U.S. District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson ruled on Jan. 23.

Federal investigators began probing C&D Motorsports in 2019, suspecting the dealership catered to drug traffickers and failed to file required cash transaction reports for sales exceeding $10,000, authorities said.

Undercover agents posing as a drug dealer and his girlfriend met with Lopez and Torres on Oct. 16, 2019, to discuss purchasing a vehicle with cash from alleged cocaine sales. The pair agreed to title the vehicle under a third party’s name to obscure its true ownership, prosecutors said.

The transaction was completed on Dec. 11, 2019, when the agents returned to the dealership with $33,000 in cash, officials said. Lopez and Torres ensured the vehicle was titled in the girlfriend’s name to conceal the funds' origin, authorities added.

Following a four-day trial in February 2024, a jury convicted the men of conspiring to launder drug proceeds by falsifying ownership records.

"IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling complex financial transactions and money laundering schemes where individuals attempt to conceal the true source of their money," said Amy MacNeely, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI’s Philadelphia Field Office.

The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation and the DEA as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation, officials said.

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