Winter Haven Woman Indicted For Fraud In Using Drug Proceeds To Purchase Home

Tampa, FL - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Rose Esquilin Rios (34, Winter Haven) with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, Esquilin Rios faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. The indictment also notifies Esquilin Rios that the United States intends to forfeit $368,207, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offense.

According to the indictment, Esquilin Rios secured a mortgage for a home she shared with her domestic partner, a trafficker of cocaine in the Middle District of Florida since at least July 2020. After agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration interviewed Esquilin Rios's partner in March 2022, he closed his bank account, sold his house that he had paid for with drug proceeds, and transferred the proceeds of that sale to an account in Esquilin Rios's name. During the summer of 2022, Esquilin Rios applied for a mortgage on a new home, claiming that she made $127,631 in a document sent to the lender. In a Uniform Residential Loan Application also sent to the lender, Esquilin Rios claimed a monthly income of $8,179.17 as a delivery driver. Both claims were false and Esquilin Rios knew them to be false because the source of the money was her partner's sale of a house paid for with drug proceeds. The total loan amount Esquilin Rios secured through her false claims was $368,207.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Baeza.