PORTLAND, Ore. – A 35-year-old former Portland resident who ran a large-scale drug-trafficking and money-laundering operation across Oregon, Washington, and beyond has been sentenced to 11 years and three months in federal prison.
Luis Antonio Beltran Arredondo admitted to distributing massive amounts of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills, heroin, and methamphetamine, while laundering millions of dollars in drug profits through a beauty salon and real estate investments.
Millions Laundered Through a Beauty Salon
Federal prosecutors revealed that Beltran Arredondo and his girlfriend, Jaqueline Paola Rodrigues Barrientos, funneled millions in cash through the Mazatlán Beauty Salon in Tualatin. Even after the salon was closed, it served as a front for laundering cocaine revenues.
In 2021 alone, Rodrigues Barrientos deposited more than $3.5 million in drug proceeds into the salon’s accounts…