A convicted meth dealer who ran gambling dens for a drug kingpin cut off her ankle bracelet and went on the lam the day before she was supposed to start her prison sentence, the feds allege.
Guanghua Shen was supposed to surrender to federal authorities on Jan. 6 and start her year-and-a-day prison sentence. But on Jan. 5, she removed her monitoring device near JFK Airport, possibly to give the impression that she had taken a flight out of town, authorities allege. She also stopped answering her phone, the feds allege.
Instead, she was staying in a hotel in Flushing, Queens, where federal authorities caught up with her Tuesday, law enforcement sources said. She now faces a bail-jumping charge that could land her behind bars for 15 years.
When the feds found her, she had a benefits card, a learner’s permit, a debit card and a driver’s license in someone else’s name, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Moore said at her arraignment Tuesday.
She also hasn’t held a job in the seven years since she was initially busted, isn’t a citizen, and has extensive ties to her native China, which would not allow her extradition back to the U.S. if she flees there, Moore said.
Shen, who also went by “Mao Mao,” was working for meth kingpin Anthony Pineda, who ran a large-scale meth distribution ring out of several Queens gambling dens. He was sentenced to 20 years in 2021.
Pineda, Shen and several others were busted in 2018 for the scheme. The kingpin was accused of protecting his turf with threats and violence, including menacing a competing gambling parlor owner with a gun and making reference to a “high voltage cattle prod.”
Shen spent about a month and a half locked up after her arrest in June 2018. After she was let go on bond, she repeatedly violated the terms of her release, testing positive for drugs several times, according to prosecutors. She was even caught running at least one illegal gambling parlor as she awaited prosecution, according to court filings.
Brooklyn Federal Judge Margo Brodie sentenced her to a year and a day in prison on April 2, giving her nine months to get her affairs in order before her surrender date.
On Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon ordered Shen held without bail on the new charge.