Smugglers linked to California homes pretended to be FBI agents and stole from EDD, feds say

In one of the more bizarre cases in recent memory, the FBI says it has broken up a nationwide marijuana smuggling and unemployment fraud ring whose members impersonated FBI, Drug Enforcement and Secret Service agents and made up phony federal search warrants and court orders.

Details of the case are laid out in a 45-page criminal complaint and affidavit unsealed in Sacramento federal court Friday and name three defendants, two of whom are currently being held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail.

The defendants — Quinten Giovanni Moody, Myra Boleche Minks and Jessica Tang — are described as being part of the “Moody-Minks Organization,” which the FBI says is “a criminal organization whose members and associates engage in, among other things, drug trafficking, fraud and the impersonation of federal law enforcement officers.”

“The organization operates throughout California, Georgia, Nevada, Texas, and elsewhere,” according to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent John Ogden, who described a variety of schemes that included alleged efforts to find out about hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash left at the site of a Bay Area drive-by shooting and repeated efforts to have a tow-truck driver get two of Moody’s vintage sports cars released from an FBI lockup in Atlanta.

Moody, 37, was arrested Thursday and appeared in Sacramento federal court Friday, where he was ordered to remain in custody pending a hearing Tuesday.

Atlanta drug bust leads to homes in Loomis, Rocklin

Court papers say the investigation began with a May 12, 2017, seizure of two suitcases at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after a Delta Airlines flight arrived from Oakland. The suitcases were retrieved by a “Moody-Minks Associate” who is not named in court papers, and agents later found the luggage contained more than 31 pounds of marijuana.

The individual, identified only as “Associate 1,” was later convicted in federal court in Georgia on drug charges and began cooperating with investigators. That person ended up describing a smuggling scheme to funnel marijuana from California to Georgia, court papers say.

“Associate 1 identified a photo of Moody and indicated that he knew him as ‘Q,’” court papers say.

As that investigation continued, Placer County sheriff’s deputies showed up at a house in Loomis in March 2019 responding to a report of “suspicious activity,” the FBI affidavit says.

There, they determined Minks was renting the home under a phony name, but knocked on the door and found no one home, the affidavit says.

“The deputies smelled a strong odor of marijuana and noticed several suitcases sitting in front of the residence,” the affidavit says.

Minks later was seen driving to the house and leaving and, after being stopped by deputies, told them she was a partner in a Mendocino County marijuana farm and that she was being paid $5,000 to $11,000 a month operating under the name Exclusive Consulting LLC, court papers say.

She was arrested and found with $47,000 in cash, another $4,898 inside her purse, a fake California driver’s license, “credit cards issued in other names and airline tickets in other people’s names,” the affidavit says.

“She also possessed a strong magnet and anti-theft tag remover, which are items that are similar to those commonly used by department store employees to remove security devices from merchandise,” the affidavit says.

Deputies searched the home and found “pay-owe sheets, marijuana and marijuana packaging materials,” the affidavit says, items that “are commonly used by individuals engaged in the distribution of marijuana.”

They also found a lease for a home on Abbeyville Road in Lincoln, which they searched and found five 1-pound bundles of marijuana, court papers say.

Suspect posed as DEA agent and US attorney, affidavit says

In addition to the marijuana scheme, court papers say, Minks was involved in a number of efforts to impersonate federal law enforcement officers.

In April 2020, following a drive-by shooting on Interstate 880 in Oakland, California Highway Patrol officers investigating the shooting got a series of calls from U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Amanda Wilkins saying that they would find about $350,000 in cash inside one of the cars involved in the shooting, the court papers say.

The DEA agent wanted to know if the driver of that car “had made any statements to law enforcement,” the affidavit says.

As it turns out, there is no DEA agent named Amanda Wilkins, and investigators reviewing a recording of Minks’ voice “confirmed that Minks’ voice matched the voice of the person who purported to be DEA Special Agent Amanda Wilkins,” the affidavit says.

Around the same time, an assistant U.S. attorney in Georgia got a call from Cynthia Lee, who introduced herself as a fellow AUSA in San Francisco, the affidavit says. Lee wanted some information about an ongoing investigation into Moody, but while the phone call was continuing the Georgia prosecutor searched a Justice Department database and could not find a listing for a Cynthia Lee, the affidavit says.

Confronted with that discrepancy, the woman caller hung up. Weeks later, the Georgia prosecutor listened to a recording of Minks’ voice and confirmed it was the same voice as Cynthia Lee’s, the affidavit says.

A Cynthia Lee purporting to be a federal prosecutor also called two Alameda County prosecutors after the I-880 shooting inquiring about one of the victims, court papers say.

There were other, similar calls, the affidavit says, including:

▪ A series of calls in July 2020 in which Minks allegedly posed as FBI Special Agent Amanda Sanchez Greenz to disrupt the sale of a Newcastle home. There is no such FBI agent, the affidavit says.

▪ Calls to Colma police in October 2020 from a woman alternately identifying herself as Michelle Smith from “adult probation in Redwood City” and the U.S. Secret Service in Washington. She was looking for information about a vehicle that had been seized and found to have a loaded 9 mm handgun hidden inside it. The FBI says there is no Secret Service agent by that name and that the voice matches Minks’.

▪ Calls to a phone company in May 2021 from a federal officer named Betty Yu or Betty Yi asking for phone subscriber information. As part of those calls, the “officer” sent over phony search warrant documents, the FBI says, and a review of the calls led to the FBI determining the voice matched Minks’.

▪ And calls to the same phone company months later from a man claiming to be a San Francisco Gang Task Force officer looking for the same information “Betty Yu” wanted. The FBI says Moody made those calls.

Then, there were the phony court orders, the FBI says.

Suspects allegedly tried to retrieve impounded cars

After the FBI seized Moody’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and 1956 Chevrolet pickup from Rusty’s Rod Shop in Georgia, a flatbed truck driver showed up at the FBI offices to collect the vehicles, the affidavit says.

“The tow truck driver informed FBI security personnel that he had been directed to retrieve the vehicles from FBI’s custody,” the affidavit says. “The tow truck driver gave FBI security personnel documents, including a document purporting to be an order issued by the Honorable John K. Larkins III, a United States magistrate judge for the Northern District of Georgia.

“The documents purported to order the United States Marshal and FBI to release the vehicles. However, the documents were not issued by Judge Larkin. In fact, they contain several hallmarks of fraudulent court orders, including the presence of multiple case numbers and misidentification of Judge Larkin as a United States District Judge.”

The efforts continued unsuccessfully, and the FBI says Minks and Moody were behind them.

Parts for the vehicles that were seized were paid for by marijuana trafficking proceeds, as well as California Employment Development Department fraud that the FBI says included Minks and Tang.

A Bank of America debit card with $22,880 in unemployment benefits was mailed to Tang’s Sacramento home in the name of a victim from Dallas, the FBI says, and Moody later used the card to buy a gold and diamond bracelet at a Cartier store in Las Vegas for $12,788.25, the FBI says.

And there was the marijuana investigation.

Fake call to Reno after pot found in luggage

As the investigation continued, a “Moody-Minks Associate” — “Associate 2” — was arrested at the Reno-Tahoe Airport in May 2021 attempting to board a JSX Airlines flight to Las Vegas with 75 pounds of “Bubba Kush” marijuana in her luggage, the affidavit says.

While airline officials were waiting for police, a JSX employee got a phone call from someone identifying themselves alternately as “Kim” and then “Sabrina” and claiming to be from the airline headquarters.

“Kim/Sabrina told JSX employees that she needed Associate 2 to continue on the flight from Reno to Las Vegas,” the affidavit says. “Kim/Sabrina said that there was a confidential, top-secret investigation into Associate 2 and Las Vegas Police were waiting to arrest Associate 2 in Las Vegas.”

The call appeared to be coming from a number for JSX customer service, the affidavit says, and “Minks was the person posing as JSX employee Kim/Sabrina.”

Federal agents later searched Minks’ Mercedes-Benz coupe and found four cellphones, including one outfitted with an application that allowed a caller to alter the phone number a call recipient sees when answering, the affidavit says.

“Associate 2” was arrested, and a search of her cellphone found a recording of her and Minks arguing over how much Minks was paying her for each trip, the affidavit says.

“Minks indicates that she does not care if Associate 2 is ‘bringing packs’ all across the country, indicating that no one put a gun to Associate 2’s head to force her to transport marijuana,” the affidavit says.

Associate 2 apparently did not remain in custody for long. The affidavit says she was spotted in November 2021 near a home in Grand Prairie, Texas, where police had responded to a call about “suspicious activity.”

“The complainant reported that on more than one occasion, he or she observed a U-Haul truck deliver a large crate, which subsequently was taken into the residence’s garage,” the affidavit says. “The complainant also reported that during these episodes, loud banging was heard near the residence.

“Subsequently, another large box truck would pick up a crate.”

The cops watched as Associate 2 backed a Home Depot rental truck up to another box truck and a crate was moved from the Home Depot truck to the other, then both drove off, the affidavit says.

Once police stopped the trucks, they found 106 pounds of marijuana inside the box truck, and Associate 2 was arrested again, the affidavit says.

The criminal complaint unsealed Friday charges Moody with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, impersonation and attempted obstruction of justice.

Minks, 44, whose whereabouts were unclear Friday, is charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, false impersonation of a federal officer, impersonation, mail fraud and attempted obstruction of justice.

Tang, 48, who was arrested and booked into the Sacramento jail Friday, faces a mail fraud count.