Two Mexican federal police agents found with more $500,000 in cash at a residence in suburban Los Angeles could face up to four years in a U.S. prison, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said yesterday.
Carlos Cedano Filippini, 34, a Baja California-based commander with the Agencia Federal de Investigación, or AFI, was one of four suspects charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with possessing a large sum for drug-trafficking purposes.
Also charged were Víctor Manuel Juárez, 36, another AFI agent; Julissa López, 35, Cedano's wife; and Héctor Manuel López, 33. They are being held on $2 million bail each. If convicted of the felony charge, they could serve sentences of up to four years.
Their arrests late Wednesday in West Covina came four days after Cedano's two top deputies were shot to death in the Baja California capital of Mexicali outside a Chinese restaurant.
Cedano and his fellow suspects in the Los Angeles case did not enter pleas, and their defense attorneys asked that the arraignment be continued to Aug. 18, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.
The arrests resulted from an ongoing investigation by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force. Mexico's Federal Attorney General's Office had no comment on the arrests yesterday, but a federal law enforcement source said Cedano had not reported to work since Sunday, the day after his deputies were killed.
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com
