A former Wells Fargo bank manager who admitted to helping launder drug money through his Harlingen bank for more than a year has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison.
Banker Stephen Rolando Reyna helped launder $410,000 in drug money through several Wells Fargo Banks in the Rio Grande Valley, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The money laundering occurred from August 2016 to April 2018, federal court documents reflect.
Reyna appeared Wednesday before U.S. District Court Judge Rolando Olvera Jr. who handed down the prison sentence to be followed by 16 months supervised release.
A federal grand jury indicted Reyna on July 21, 2020, to one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. He pleaded guilty to the charge Sept. 1, 2021, federal court documents reflect.
“If you help drug traffickers ‘clean’ their money, you will be prosecuted,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani in a news release. “It is especially disappointing that a bank manager for Wells Fargo chose to violate his position of trust for easy money, money from organizations that are destroying our communities.”
While serving in his position as bank manager in a Wells Fargo branch in Harlingen and utilizing his position and knowledge of the banking industry, Reyna assisted a drug trafficking organization to launder $410,000 in drug sale proceeds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said in a news release.
According to the news release, the drug organization would transport multi-kilogram cocaine loads from the Rio Grande Valley to northern states. Upon successful delivery, thousands of dollars in drug proceeds would then be dispersed through multiple Wells Fargo bank accounts in the northern states.
Reyna would coordinate with multiple co-conspirators in the Rio Grande Valley to launder the funds through their accounts at Wells Fargo, the news release said. Reyna ensured the proceeds were successfully withdrawn from his branch in Harlingen.
According to the news release, co-conspirators would frequently pay Reyna in cash right after he helped them get their drug proceeds out of the bank.
David Mares, one of these co-conspirators, was indicted July 21, 2020, on one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. He pleaded guilty to the charge Jan. 19, 2022, and is scheduled to be sentenced April 5, 2023, federal court documents reflect.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation with assistance from the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office and Wells Fargo.
