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U.S. Attorney: North Idaho drug trafficking group laundered over $482,000

Posted at 10:37 AM, Oct 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-12 12:37:46-04

Sherlann Simon, 34, of North Las Vegas, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Coeur d’Alene to conspiracy to launder $482,955.71 obtained by a drug trafficking ring, according to U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson. 

Simon was indicted by a federal grand Jury in Coeur d'Alene on January 20 of this year.

Simon admitted that, since approximately 2010, she laundered the money that had been obtained by a drug trafficking organization led by Simon’s mother, Loren Toelle. The organization sold drugs in Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Montana, and North Dakota.

Olson said Simon participated in the conspiracy by depositing the organization’s drug profits into her personal bank accounts and business accounts belonging to Vegas Stylz House of Beauty, a hair salon in Las Vegas, owned by Simon and Toelle.

Simon used a portion of the drug profits deposited into her bank accounts to pay expenses related to the organization, further promoting the drug trafficking organization.

Simon is the second person to plead guilty out of an indictment which charges eleven individuals, according to Olson’s office. In addition to pleading guilty, Simon agreed to forfeit any interest she has in real property, jewelry, and cash held by herself or co-conspirators, as outlined in the indictment. 

The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering is punishable by up to twenty years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release. 

Sentencing is set for January 19 next year, before Chief U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Coeur d'Alene.

The case was joint investigation of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force, the FBI North Idaho Violent Crime Task Force, the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, Post Falls Police Department, the DEA, the IRS, U.S. Marshal Service and the Department of Homeland Security, among others.