ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WRIC) – A Honduran woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Virginia court this week for crimes she committed when she led a large-scale cocaine trafficking organization for just under a decade.

According to court documents, between 2006 and 2015, 62-year-old Erlinda Ramos-Bobadilla was the leader of the Montes-Bobadilla drug-trafficking organization. Montes-Bobadilla, or Los Montes, is a large, family-owned drug-trafficking organization that at the time was based in the town of Francia in Honduras.

Los Montes frequently received multiple shipments of cocaine, often containing hundreds or even thousands of pounds of the drug. The group worked with other drug traffickers to transport the cocaine through Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and eventually into communities in the United States.

Ramos-Bobadilla took an active role in the leadership, including negotiating of cocaine sales, employing armed security guards and bribing public officials and police officers in Honduras to protect the drug-trafficking business.

In addition to keeping the cocaine business running, the court found Ramos-Bobadilla also planned acts of violence, including murder, as part of her family’s drug operation. In 2009, Los Montes conspired to pay for the murder of the head of Honduras’ anti-drug trafficking agency. Then in 2013, Ramos-Bobadilla — along with her son, Noe Montes-Bobadilla and another co-conspirator — coordinated the murder of a U.S. citizen who they believed was cooperating with the U.S. government.

In October 2015, Ramos-Bobadilla and five co-conspirators were indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia for conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine for importation into the United States.

On Tuesday, March 28, Ramos-Bobadilla was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her involvement in Los Montes.

Three of Ramos-Bobadilla’s co-conspirators were previously convicted and sentenced in this case. Noe Montes-Bobadilla was sentenced to 37 years in prison in April 2019. Arnulfo Fagot-Maximo received 33 years in prison in May 2019 and Jose del Trancito Garcia-Teruel was sentenced to 13 years in prison in February 2022.