Atlantic City woman sentenced to 78 months for money laundering
CAMDEN, N.J. – Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, Susan A. Gibson, and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Craig Carpenito, announced an Atlantic City woman was sentenced to 78 months in prison for her role in a drug trafficking and money laundering operation in the Atlantic County area.
Jazmin Vega, 45, previously pleaded guilty to one count of an indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb imposed the sentence Nov. 14, 2019, in Camden federal court.
From 2010 through December 2014, Vega’s long-time paramour, Toye Tutis, 47, operated a large-scale drug trafficking ring out of the Ta’Ja Laundromat in Atlantic City, purchasing and distributing between 150 to 450 kilograms of cocaine and approximately 26 kilograms of heroin, and laundering between $1.5 and $3 million in drug proceeds. Tutis was aided by Vega, who admitted to laundering his drug trafficking proceeds in several ways, including through the couple’s various businesses – Ta’Ja Construction I LLC; Ta’Ja Real Estate Investors LLC; and Integrity Heating and Cooling LLC; and by purchasing more than 30 properties with tainted funds.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Bumb sentenced Vega to three years of supervised release and fined her $1,000. As part of their plea agreements, Vega and Tutis must forfeit 20 properties, cash and other assets.
Tutis also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 264 months in prison.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the DEA’s Atlantic City Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson; the FBI’s Newark Division, Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie; the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner; and the Atlantic City Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief Henry White, with the investigation leading to sentencing.
He also thanked the New Jersey State Police; the Pennsylvania State Police, the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigation; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the Ventnor, Northfield, and Millville police departments for their assistance.
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