Southwest Detroit business owner accused of laundering money to Mexico
The owner of La Posada in Southwest Detroit is accused of laundering money to Mexico, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Friday.
La Posada is a Mexican restaurant, convenience store and money remitter business, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said. The owner, identified by investigators as 58-year-old Juan Romo-Padilla, was arrested on Thursday.
According to an affidavit, the Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating the business in September 2024. Law enforcement identified Romo-Padilla as "an international third-party money launderer using his business to launder potentially millions of dollars to Mexico."
An undercover IRS agent made multiple visits to the business and communicated with associates for months before being connected with Romo-Padilla, the affidavit said.
The agent met with Romo-Padilla on March 24, 2026, at La Posada, court documents show. They told him they had $10,000 and a list of five names in Michoacan, Mexico, and wanted to send the money without being listed as the sender. According to the affidavit, Romo-Padilla agreed to send the money and told the agent he would charge a fee in addition to Western Union's fee for providing the names of the senders.
The court document went on to say that the agent later provided Romo-Padilla with five names associated with various cities in Michoacan along with $10,700 in a paper bag. During their conversation, the agent told him that he was "involved in the sale of cocaine."
According to the affidavit, Romo-Padilla told the agent that if they ever wanted to send more money and couldn't get enough names of people to send it to, he had a nephew in Mexico who could provide him with names for a separate fee.
On March 27, 2026, the agent received a WhatsApp message from Romo-Padilla containing two photos showing five Western Union receipts, court documents said. The receipts allegedly showed a total of $10,200 sent in various amounts utilizing the five names given to him.
"The senders appear to be people from Mexico. However, the phone numbers and addresses listed were Detroit based and not associated with the sender names," the affidavit said. "Further, several of the addresses were either spelled incorrectly or were invalid."
The agent allegedly met Romo-Padilla again this past April at the business. During the meeting, they told him they were getting a "big shipment" in the Detroit area and wanted to know how much he could send through La Posada, court documents show.
The agent later said the shipment was of cocaine, to which Romo-Padilla said it would not be an issue and that he "has a partner who helps him log these transactions," the affidavit said.
According to the court document, Romo-Padilla later accepted additional money from the agent and agreed to transfer it to Mexico even after being told the money was tied to cocaine.
Law enforcement executed search warrants on Thursday at Romo-Padilla's Detroit home as well as the business, the affidavit said. During the search, investigators said they found around $80,000 at the home and "bulk currency" in a safe at the business.
"Money laundering is not a victimless crime, it is the financial engine that allows drug traffickers to turn illicit profits into the resources that fuel addiction, violence, and death in cities across America," Joseph O. Dixon, a DEA agent, said in a written statement.
Court documents show Romo-Padilla is charged with one count each of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, money laundering, laundering of represented drug proceeds and knowingly transmitting criminal proceeds.
