Springdale Body Shop Owners Sentenced

Posted on: 5:20 pm, October 19, 2012, by Marty Cook, updated on: 05:55pm, October 19, 2012

Seven members of a drug-trafficking network based in a Springdale body shop were sentenced to prison Friday, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

U.S. District Court Judge Jimm Larry Hendren handed down sentences ranging from eight months to 90 months. Leader Manuel Haro-Gutierrez, 50, of Springdale, received a sentence of 90 months and a $35,000 fine, the news release states.

Haro-Gutierrez’s wife, Gladis Haro, 51, of California, received 84 months and a fine of $25,000.

Haro-Gutierrez, Haro and five others pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges on April 25, the release states. Homeland Security and the Rogers Police Department said the group ran a multi-state drug operation and laundered the profits through Haro Auto Repair and Paint in Springdale.

Officials said the group laundered approximately $315,000 of profits generated from cocaine and methamphetamine sales in Los Angeles, where Gladis Haro lived at the time. Authorities began their investigation May 2011 and made arrests that December.

“This case indicates that we are serious about working together to investigate and prosecute individuals and organizations that put our communities in jeopardy by engaging in drug trafficking and other crimes,” said Conner Eldridge, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

Also sentenced were Osiris Depaz-Ramirez, 28, of California, to 30 months; Ivan Salan-Aguilar, 49, of California, and Manuel Haro Jr., 24, of Springdale, to 12 months plus one day; and Jania Haro, 34, and Victor Palacios, 54, both of Springdale, to eight months.