A woman from Lowell has been handed a 21-month prison sentence following her guilty plea to charges involving drug distribution and money laundering within Massachusetts and Virginia. According to an announcement by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Sathtra Em, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV for conspiring to distribute MDMA and buprenorphine and to launder the proceeds of her crimes.
Involved in a drug smuggling operation, Em helped to sneak drugs into the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia. This Richard Nixonian war on drugs endlessly persists—reasserting itself within the steel walls where individuals like Em and her co-defendant, Michael Mao, 38, sought to corruptly garner profit. Mao, currently incarcerated, has agreed to already plead guilty to similar charges and is set to be sentenced on November 18, as per Judge Saylor's schedule.
The elaborate scheme unfolded between December 2019 and May 2021, with Em paying a prison guard to deliver drugs to Mao inside the correctional facility. The operations included hiding Suboxone sublingual films within the pages of magazines mailed into the prison. Proceeds of the drug sales were collected through various electronic payment systems, leveraging a web of deception that stretched from the digital into the tangible, penetrating the security of a prison with the stealth of modern technology.
Em's real estate dealings are now under investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. She is accused of using drug trafficking profits to make mortgage payments on her Lowell home, purchased in 2015. Authorities allege that between October 2016 and January 2021, over $76,000 in illegal drug money was used for these payments. The funds reportedly came from Sarath Yut, a regional drug trafficker and member of the Lowell-based gang, One Family Clique, who once lived with Em.
The gravity of Em’s crimes is reflected in the severity of potential sentences—up to 20 years for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and another 20 for money laundering, coupled with substantial fines and supervised release. Her conspirator, Sarath Yut, has already been sentenced to 15 years for his participation in the trafficking and laundering operations. Another co-defendant, Kenneth Owen, is still awaiting trial after pleading not guilty.
