Wausau Pilot & Review
Two Florida residents have been indicted on federal money laundering charges alleging they collected thousands of dollars from a Wausau area business as part of a widespread conspiracy, according to the U.S. Dept. of justice.
Prosecutors say 40-year-old Denise Webley of Tarmac, Fla., and 51-year-old Julio Madruga Rosa, of Gulf Stream, Fla., maintained bank accounts designed to collect and funnel cash proceeds from unlawful activities. Webley allegedly received weekly payments for maintaining a bank account while Madruga Rosa allegedly received a percentage of the funds laundered through that account as payment.
The indictment alleges that in November and December 2020, unknown suspects used false pretenses to persuade employees to collect and deliver cash from businesses to couriers they thought were authorized to receive the funds. As part of the conspiracy, in December 2020 in Rib Mountain, two couriers collected more than $240K in currency from a retail store employee, officials said. More than $233K of the proceeds were allegedly deposited into Webley’s account and were almost immediately transferred to Madruga Rosa’s account before being transferred out of the country.
The money laundering charges against Webley and Madruga Rosa are the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The investigation of the fraud scheme was conducted by these two agencies and the Merrill, Wausau, Everest Metropolitan, Stevens Point, and West Allis Police Departments, the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith P. Duchemin is handling this case.
A criminal complaint was not immediately available on Wednesday, the day the indictments were issued by a federal grand jury for the Western District Court of Wisconsin in Madison.
