Seattle – Fourteen people were indicted in late May and eleven were taken into custody in coordinated arrests last week as part of an ongoing investigation of drug traffickers with ties to drug trafficking in Seattle’s International District and homeless encampments, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. The defendants...

Tacoma – A major redistributor for a South Sound-based drug trafficking ring that was connected to Aryan prison gangs was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 126 months in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. 46-year-old Joseph Hempel, of Burien, Washington, was a high-volume drug...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A Salem, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison for possessing and trafficking more than 40 pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin. Rico Anthony Russell Rigutto, 46, was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release. According to court documents, on December 14, 2021, as...

SEATTLE – A 38-year-old Mexican citizen who previously resided in Kent, Washington was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison for drug trafficking. Ramon Duarte Garcia was arrested in June 2024, following a drug investigation lasting nearly four years. Between 2020 and June 2024...

YAKIMA, Wash. – Gabriela Abundiz, age 45, was sentenced after pleading guilty to distributing methamphetamine. Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian imposed a sentence of 180 months to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. According to court documents and information presented at the sentencing hearing, in...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A suspended member of the Alaska Bar was arrested Wednesday after a federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment charging him with maintaining a drug-involved premise for the purpose of distributing and using controlled substances, and with possessing firearms as a prohibited person and in furtherance...

Spokane, Washington - U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle Field Division joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington and other federal, local, and state partners on May 8, 2025, to announce charges against twenty-one (21) individuals. Fifteen separate indictments were...

Yakima, Wash. – Six people are in federal custody following the return of an indictment in the Eastern District of Washington alleging 20 criminal counts involving drug trafficking and firearms On April 22, 2025, the Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Homeland...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Acting United States Attorney Richard Barker announced that United States District Judge Mary K. Dimke sentenced Ricardo Cantu, age 26, to 108 months in prison on drug trafficking charges. Judge Dimke also imposed 4 years of supervised release. According to court documents and information provided at the...

Spokane, Washington – A federal jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of Luis Esquivel-Bolanos (a/k/a “Colorado”), age 45, of Guerrero, Mexico. Esquivel-Bolanos was found guilty on multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice presided over Esquivel-Bolanos’s trial, which began April 14, 2025...