Member of North Idaho drug trafficking organization pleads guilty to money laundering

COEUR d’ALENE — Sherlann Simon, 34, of North Las Vegas, Nev., pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to launder money, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

Simon was indicted by a federal grand jury in Coeur d’Alene on Jan. 20.

Simon admitted that, since approximately 2010, she laundered $482,955.71 that had been obtained by a drug trafficking organization that was led by Simon’s mother, Loren Toelle.

Dr. Stanley Toelle, a local gastroenterologist, and his wife Loren were earlier charged in the multi-state drug ring bust. The doctor was charged with conspiracy to launder money and faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Loren was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and 13 counts of conspiracy to launder money. She faces up to 60 years in prison if found guilty.

Both were indicted in federal court in January along with five other individuals, including Simon. The jury trial that lists Stanley and Loren, among others, as defendants is set for March 6, 2017.

Stanley filed for divorce from Loren in May.

The indictment alleges the organization generated at least $1.3 million in drug proceeds since 2009.

The organization sold drugs in Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Montana and North Dakota. Simon participated in the conspiracy by depositing the organization’s drug profits into her personal bank accounts and business accounts belonging to Vegas Stylz House of Beauty, a hair salon in Las Vegas owned by Simon and Toelle.

Simon used a portion of the drug profits deposited into her bank accounts to pay expenses related to the organization, further promoting the drug trafficking organization.

Simon is the second individual to plead guilty out of an indictment which charges 11 individuals.

In addition to pleading guilty, Simon agreed to forfeit any interest she has in real property, jewelry, and cash held by herself or co-conspirators, as outlined in the indictment.

The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 19, 2017, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene.

The case is the result of a joint investigation and cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), including the FBI North Idaho Violent Crime Task Force, the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, Post Falls Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), U.S. Marshal Service and Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Other agencies involved include the Williston, N.D., Police Department, the United States Attorney’s Offices in Las Vegas and North Dakota, the FBI in North Dakota, Williams County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Border Patrol, Williston Police Department, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Northwest Narcotics Task Force, the Washington State Patrol, the U.S. Marshal Service in Las Vegas, IRS-CI in Las Vegas, and the DEA in Las Vegas.

The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.