Ex-worker for NM contractor pleads guilty to illegally bringing more than $800,000 from Iraq
By APWednesday, January 27, 2010
NM contractor pleads guilty to smuggling cash
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A former employee of a New Mexico construction company with contracts in Iraq has pleaded guilty to illegally bringing more than $800,000 into the United States.
The Albuquerque Journal reports in a copyright story Wednesday that Ishmael “Mike” Salinas admitted to bulk cash smuggling and failing to make a required report on currency brought into the country from Baghdad.
Salinas also agreed to forfeit $804,000 found on him, at his home or at his mother’s home in Odessa, Texas.
The newspaper says Salinas formerly worked for Laguna Construction Co., whose principal owner is Laguna Pueblo. Salinas, who was arrested last January, left the company in mid-2008 to work for another firm.
His plea agreement does not mention Laguna Construction.
