(NewsNation) — A Utah couple and their sons face federal charges following their arrests in April for allegedly working with Mexican cartels to smuggle more than $300 million worth of stolen oil into the U.S.
James Lael Jensen and his wife, Kelly Anne Jensen, were arrested on April 23 at their mansion in Sandy, Utah. Their sons, Maxwell Sterling Jensen and Zachary Golden Jensen, were arrested that same day in Texas.
All four family members were indicted in the U.S. District Court of Southern Texas, where they are accused of smuggling 2,881 shipments of stolen crude oil into the country via barges that were then docked at their Rio Hondo-based facility, Arroyo Terminals. The scheme allegedly began in May 2022.
Utah parents refused to leave home when agents arrived: Prosecutors
James and Maxwell Jensen are charged with money laundering and the smuggling of goods, according to federal court records. Kelly and Zachary Jensen are charged with money laundering.
Prosecutors said in court that James and Kelly Jensen refused to exit their home when agents arrived to arrest them. According to MySanAntonio, U.S. marshals had to use a battering ram to enter the home.
“James Jensen conspired with his wife, Kelly Jensen, and two of his sons, Maxwell and Zachary Jensen, to launder proceeds from sales of illegally imported crude oil,” reads an arrest warrant obtained by ABC 4 in Salt Lake City. “The payments for this crude oil were directed to businesses in Mexico that operate only through the permission of Mexican criminal organization(s).”
Cartels associated with businesses allegedly stole oil from Pemex
The Jensens are accused of funneling more than $47 million through those businesses, the news station reported. The cartels that run the businesses allegedly stole the oil from Pemex, the state-owned oil company of the Mexican government.
A crew from Channel 5 News in the Rio Grande Valley was on hand April 23 as federal agents and Texas state troopers raided Arroyo Terminals. Valley Central in Brownsville reported that Arroyo Terminals’ website, which has since been made private, stated that the company “specializes in domestic and cross-border acquisitions of various blends of crude oil.”
That oil is stored in large tanks near the Arroyo Colorado, the news site reported. Barges transport the product to buyers every few weeks.
Arroyo Terminals owns and operates 30,000 barges, the website stated.
Utah family used barges to move illegal shipments: Indictment
The indictment alleges that the Jensens used those barges to move the illegal shipments, which were described in fraudulent paperwork as “waste of lube oils” and “petroleum distillates.”
Arroyo Terminals workers told Valley Central that agents who raided the business put employees in handcuffs and questioned them about the crude, asking if the oil had been stolen.
“We don’t know that,” one employee told the station on condition of anonymity. “We’re just in charge of unloading the trucks and loading the barges.”
Another employee said workers were “always out of the loop” on the source of the oil, and a third told a reporter that he heard FBI agents high-five one another and say, “We got ‘em.”
Utah father described as pillar of community by attorney
James Jensen’s attorney, John Huber, disputed the charges, describing his client as a pillar of his community, MySanAntonio reported.
“They’re active in their church, they’re active in their community,” Huber said. “They come from a stalwart Utah community.”
The Jensens face up to 20 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines if convicted of the charges against them. They also face losing about $300 million in property, including the Arroyo Terminals property, several of the company’s barges, multiple business and personal vehicles and a million-dollar home the couple owns in Draper, Utah.