Cops took $22 million cash stuffed in buckets from his home. But he won’t lose it all. The Miami Lakes man found with $22 million in suspected marijuana cash stuffed in orange buckets inside his house pleaded guilty Wednesday — but he won’t be losing all his money to the feds. Luis Hernandez-Gonzalez agreed to let the U.S. government take $18 million of the cash. He’ll get to keep about $4 million, plus his house, his business and five Rolex watches. The 46-year-old pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to money laundering and structuring bank deposits to avoid reporting the true amounts to the government. U.S. Judge Robert Scola will sentence Hernandez-Gonzalez on April 20 — ironically, the annual day marijuana fans celebrate the herb. He faces up to 30 years in prison, but his defense lawyers are hoping to get him a sentence below the bottom of the sentencing guidelines, which is five years behind bars. Hernandez-Gonzalez made national news when detectives raided his Miami Lakes home in June 2016, discovering most of the cash in 24 orange “Homer’s All-Purpose” buckets from Home Depot. They were hidden in a secret compartment above a closet. An additional $600,000-plus was found at his business. The story was first reported by the Miami Herald. Miami-Dade narcotics detectives hauled away the money in a pickup truck, then spent more than a day exhaustively counting the huge stacks of bills. Investigators raided his businesses and home after he was caught on a phone wiretap giving growing advice to Miami marijuana growers arrested by federal agents in Tennessee. Hernandez-Gonzalez is well-known in the marijuana trade. He ran Blossom Experience, a North Miami-Dade store that sells fans, lights, fertilizers and other equipment for indoor gardening. Cops believe that the business, while legal, caters to marijuana traffickers growing weed in clandestine labs inside homes. But his defense lawyers long insisted the money was legitimately earned from selling equipment. However, because he sells to legal marijuana growers in other states, no banks would take his cash, they claimed. Hernandez-Gonzalez was first charged in state criminal court for marijuana trafficking and money laundering. A few months after his arrest, a federal grand jury indicted him on federal charges stemming from the same cash seizure. www.miamiherald.com Latest Posts School fight caught on cameraAugust 18, 2023 Cops took $22 million cash stuffed in buckets from his home. But he won’t lose it all.February 7, 2018 10th Sentence Handed Down In Fla. Health Care Fraud CaseJuly 20, 2017 Man identified as Colombian judge accused in arms-shipment case in MiamiJune 11, 2017 Archive February 2018 July 2017 June 2017 November 2016 October 2016 March 2016 February 2016 April 2014 March 2013 June 2012 March 2012
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