The former leader of the United Nations Gang was sentenced today (Tuesday) in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 30 years in prison and five years of supervised release.
This was the second sentencing hearing for Clay Roueche, who was convicted of conspiracy to export cocaine, conspiracy to import marijuana, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
He was first sentenced to 30 years on Dec. 16, 2009. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a second sentencing hearing so that Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik could clarify the evidence he considered in reaching the sentence he imposed.
At the new hearing today, Lasnik said Roueche led a major criminal organization whose drug trafficking and money laundering led to violence.
"The closer I look at the crimes, the more I am convinced that 30 years is the just and appropriate prison term," Lasnik said.
Roueche was indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle in October 2007, but the indictment remained under seal until his arrest May 19, 2008 in Texas. He had been attempting to enter Mexico, but was denied entry and returned to Canada.
The plane stopped in Dallas, Texas, where he was arrested on a warrant from the Western District of Washington.
Roueche pleaded guilty in April 2009. He admitted to conspiring with others, from 2005 on, to export cocaine from the U.S. to Canada and to import B.C. Bud into the U.S.
He further admitted in the plea agreement that he conspired with others to transport and deliver the cash proceeds from the illegal drug sales.
For sentencing, prosecutors presented detailed information regarding the scope of the drug and money laundering conspiracies.
The investigation of Roueche spanned three years and resulted in a number of seizures, including almost 2,200 pounds of Canadian marijuana, 335 kilograms of cocaine, more than $2 million in U.S. currency, two pounds of crack cocaine, four pounds of methamphetamine, and five firearms.
U.S. prosecutors said he "used private airplanes, float planes, helicopters, cars, semi-trucks and coded Blackberry telephones to create a secret and successful organization that he planned to extend into the Far East and South America."
They said Roueche, as the leader of the UN Gang, “was the public face of this violent, quasi-corporate group, and led its drug trafficking endeavours.
"The group used guns, threats and violence to keep its contracted workers and gang members in line and to ensure that no one informed on the group’s activities."