Oldham County woman sentenced to federal prison for helping launder her son's drug money
A federal judge sentenced this week an Oldham County woman to prison for her role in laundering her son's drug money.
Cara Leann Naber, 57, of Goshen, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton to 15 months in prison followed by 15 months of home incarceration and three years of supervised release after the mother had pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to launder drug trafficking proceeds and structuring bank transactions to evade federal cash transaction reporting requirements.
As part of a plea agreement, Cara Naber will pay an additional $420,000 toward an asset forfeiture money judgment and a $100,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday in a news release.
Her 22-year-old son, John Frank Naber III, pleaded guilty to drug, firearms and money laundering charges in 2020 and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in January 2021.
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Federal authorities had executed several search warrants in February 2019 in Oldham County as part of a multi-agency drug and money laundering investigation targeting the son.
The U.S. Attorney's Office noted investigators found and seized drugs and pill pressing equipment which John Frank Naber III had used to manufacture homemade counterfeit Adderall on his family's property in Oldham County.
John Frank Naber III made the counterfeit pills using methamphetamine and then sold them in bulk to customers as a vendor on the dark web. Investigators also seized the son's drug proceeds, including over $325,000 in cash and Bitcoin valued at over $200,000.
Cara Naber was charged for her role in laundering proceeds for her son’s drug trafficking operation, including by moving the proceeds through traditional bank accounts and cryptocurrency accounts in her name and by holding cash for her son in her safe deposit boxes, prosecutors said.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Corinne E. Keel and Robert Bonar prosecuted the case. The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation agency led the financial investigation into Cara Naber and worked in collaboration with several other agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Kentucky State Police.
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“This case highlights the exceptional work of the IRS Criminal Investigation agents assigned to the case as well as the agencies who supported the investigation - HSI, CBP, USPIS, and KSP,” Michael A. Bennett, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said in a statement. “It also serves notice to those in the drug trade that we will leave no stone unturned in identifying, apprehending and prosecuting those who seek to profit by peddling poison in our communities."
Bryan Jackson, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Cincinnati Field Office, added the case "should be a warning" to those using the dark web and cryptocurrency "to commit drug crimes and launder the proceeds."
The Criminal Investigation division of the IRS is looking to hire special agents like those involved in the Oldham County case. More hiring details are available via usajobs.gov/job/634575800.
Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Oldham County woman sentenced to prison for laundering son's drug cash
