Key Figure Gets 8 Years in Drug Money Case : Court: Otoniel Urrego maintains his innocence. But prosecutors say he was a boss in the Medellin cocaine cartel.

A native Colombian who played a key role in the biggest drug-money laundering case in Ventura County history was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison.

Otoniel Urrego, 64, received the sentence agreed to by prosecutors last month when they unexpectedly allowed him to plead guilty to a reduced charge of conspiracy to sell cocaine.

Although Urrego continues to maintain his innocence, prosecutors insist that he was a boss in the Medellin cocaine cartel who oversaw the shipment of millions of dollars in drug proceeds to Colombia from Simi Valley, New York, Chicago and Denver.

Urrego pleaded guilty mainly because his failing health could not endure the strains of another lengthy trial, his attorney said.

A paraplegic since he was 16, Urrego sat in a wheelchair during the brief sentencing hearing. Neither defense nor prosecuting attorneys offered arguments in light of the plea bargain. And Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. made no comment except to say he agreed this was not a case for probation.

“I think he’s just relieved that it’s all over,� Deputy Public Defender Todd W. Howeth said of his client after the hearing.

Howeth said Urrego is looking forward to being transferred to a state prison facility that is better equipped than the county jail to provide the medical attention he needs.

Urrego is the second person to plead guilty in connection with the seizure of $2.5 million in cash in May, 1989, when Urrego’s brother and two sisters-in-law were arrested in Simi Valley and Chatsworth.

Prosecutors say the money was earmarked for shipment to Colombia, to be camouflaged in barrels of paint pigment and shipped from a dummy company in Simi Valley that was set up for that purpose.

Working from his home near Miami, Fla., Urrego used a fax machine and telephone to oversee the transport of $25 million in drug money from Simi Valley to Colombia during the two months before the seizure, prosecutors said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Grunert said this type of case has never been attempted by local prosecutors anywhere in the country. He said federal prosecutors declined to take the case, in part because of its complexity and because Ventura County prosecutors had done so much work to amass the evidence against Urrego.

Urrego decided to plead guilty while awaiting a second trial on conspiracy and money laundering charges. The jury in the first trial deadlocked 10 to 2 and 8 to 4 for conviction on the charges.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport and sell three pounds of cocaine. As part of the plea agreement, the district attorney’s office dismissed a special allegation that more than 100 pounds of cocaine was involved, a charge that carries a 15-year sentence.

No drugs were found in connection with the seizure of the $2.5 million. Grunert said drug cartels traditionally keep their cocaine and money operations separate from each other.

Grunert said he does not know what, if any, ties Urrego still has to the Medellin drug operation. That cartel is in shambles, Grunert said, and has been replaced by the Cali cartel, also based in Colombia.

A key prosecution witness in the trial was Luz Urrego, Otoniel’s sister-in-law, who pleaded guilty to participating in the money laundering operation in a deal that called for her to testify against her brother-in-law.

She testified that Otoniel Urrego closely monitored the money laundering operation. Sobbing at times while on the witness stand, the 39-year-old widow also said Urrego was a father figure to her three daughters.

Howeth said Luz Urrego has since written to Otoniel to ask his forgiveness for what she did. Howeth said his client, Otoniel, is not angry with Luz.

Luz Urrego, who owns a house in Simi Valley, was released from jail a few days after Otoniel pleaded guilty.

Two other defendants in the case--Floriberto Urrego, 52, who is Otoniel’s brother; and Martha Urrego, 40, Floriberto’s wife--have fled to Colombia and cannot be prosecuted unless they return to this country.