FARGO (AP) -- A woman who pleaded guilty to charges in a wide-ranging drug trafficking ring that resulted in the indictments of more than 50 people has been sentenced to almost 10 years in federal prison.
Soledad Ybarra, 23, formerly of Moorhead, Minn., admitted in January to money laundering and making calls to help find a man who was murdered, in the case known as "Operation Speed Racer."
She said in court during her sentencing Friday that she was a gullible young woman who fell under the spell of two beguiling men she claimed not to know were drug dealers.
Brad Berg, a West Fargo police detective and member of a Drug Enforcement Administration task force, testified that Ybarra carried large sums of cash in sealed envelopes and handled wire money transfers for the alleged leader of the operation, Jorge "Sneaky" Arandas.
Authorities have said the conspiracy involved large amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana that was moved from Mexico and the West Coast to North Dakota and other states.
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Ybarra's boyfriend, Michael Petzold, earlier pleaded guilty to participating in the June 2005 drug-related killing of Lee Avila, 28, of East Grand Forks, Minn., and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Arandas is facing a dozen charges in the case, including murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
His lawyer, Steven Mottinger, said earlier this month that Arandas likely will go to trial rather than seek a plea agreement.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson sentenced Ybarra to 9 1/2 years in prison. He called Ybarra's portrayal of her role in the drug ring "entirely self-serving."
"I have never heard such a fairy tale presented in a sentencing hearing in my life," said Erickson, who has been on the state or federal bench for 14 years.
