Sacramento man sentenced in pot money-laundering operation | Crime

SACRAMENTO, CA - A third Sacramento man connected to a marijuana-trafficking and money-laundering operation was sentenced in federal court Thursday.

Keni Rentas ,29, was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison for structuring cash transactions from selling marijuana to avoid reporting requirements, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California.

In 2011, per court documents, Renta sold marijuana to buyers primarily in the Midwest and Northeast. Renta had the buyers make deposits into out-of-state accounts in his name or controlled by him. He directed the deposits be for amounts less than $10,000 so the required filing of a currency transaction report was bypassed. Renta and others he directed then withdrew amounts of less than $10,000 from the accounts to again bypass the mandatory filing report.

Investigators claim from June 2011 through November 2011, at least $942,500 of a minimum of $1.3 million in the accounts was structured in the manner described above.

On October, another defendant, Jauwon Pierre Wilder, 28, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in opening accounts for Renta's customers and withdrawing structured cash out of the accounts on Renta's direction. Also last month, Charles Wilson, 35, received a 10-month prison sentence for growing marijuana for Renta.