An Atlantic City couple admitted this week to their roles in trafficking drugs out of their laundromat and then laundering it through other businesses.
Toye Tutis, 44, admitted that from 2010 to December 2014, he purchased and distributed 150 to 450 kilograms of cocaine and about 26 kilograms of heroin out of his Ta'Ja Laundromat in Atlantic City.
His longtime girlfriend, 42-year-old Jazmin Vega then helped him launder the proceeds — between $1.5 million and $3 million — through their other businesses, including Ta'Ja Construction, Ta'Ja Real Estate Investors and Integrity Heating and Cooling.
Ta’Ja Construction had been so respected for its work helping the community that it was one of those honored as a “Hometown Hero” during a ceremony at Atlantic City’s Dante Hall more than two months after the businessman was taken into federal custody.
Tutis pleaded guilty Tuesday to drug-trafficking conspiracy, which carries a maximum of life in prison and $10 million fine.
He and Vega also pleaded guilty to money laundering, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and a half-million dollar fine.
They are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 17.
Nine others already pleaded guilty in the scheme.
Awaiting sentencing are Kabaka Atiba, 46, and Kareem Taylor, 41, of Atlantic City; Tozine Tiller, 42, of Absecon; TeJohn Cooper, 43, of Galloway Township; Ronald Douglas Byrd, 51, of Pleasantville; Talib Tiller, 43, of Mays Landing; John Wellman, 41, of Somers Point, and Philip Horton, 50, of Los Angeles, California.
Francisco Alberto Rascon-Muracami, 22, of Obregon, Mexico, was sentenced Oct. 30, 2015 to 70 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.
