The owner of La Popular, a money-service business with multiple locations, including in Woodburn and Hillsboro, pleaded guilty Oct. 24 to laundering drug trafficking funds.
Brenda Lili Barrera Orantes, a Guatemalan national living in the United States, was arrested April 16 after officers searched Barrera Orantes’ Beaverton residence and three La Popular stores in Beaverton, Hillsboro and Vancouver.
According to court documents, investigators found evidence that La Popular stores sent over $4.2 million via wire transfers to Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, Sinaloa and other regions of Mexico from Aug. 1, 2024, through Nov. 1, 2024…