Four Busted Selling MDMA, Laundering Cash In Virginia, Along East Coast: Feds

Four men were arrested and charged with selling MDMA and laundering their earnings through Massachusetts and Virginia.

Four men were arrested and charged with selling MDMA and other drugs and trying to launder the proceeds, federal authorities said.
Photo Credit: *Unsplash/Pretty Drugthings*

01/24/2023 5:14 p.m.

Federal agents charged the following people:

Sathtra Em, 35, of Lowell
Kenneth Owen, a/k/a “Apple,” a/k/a “Carlos,” 22, of Charlotte Court House, Va.
Michael Mao, a/k/a “Whitebodian,” a/k/a “Spook,” a/k/a “Leno,” 36, of the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Va.

They are each charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute MDMA and Buprenorphine, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said.

Sarath Yut, 36, of Lowell, is charged with helping launder their proceeds, the prosecutor noted.

Investigators said Mao, Em, and Owen imported and sold MDMA and Buprenorphine, a drug used to treat people addicted to opioids, in Lowell from December 2019 through May 2021. Police believe that Em worked with Yut to hide their proceeds through cash deposits into Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union and on a mortgage payment for a home in Lowell.

Conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute MDMA and Buprenorphine can carry a 20-year sentence and up to a $1 million fine. Money laundering also carries a potential two decades in prison if convicted, according to federal sentencing guidelines.

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