SPOKANE, Wash. - On December 13, 2017, the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and (ATF) led a large scale enforcement action targeting a criminal organization distributing methamphetamine in the Eastern District of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Hundreds of law enforcement officials, including federal agents and state...

BOISE, Idaho - Dr. Rafael Beier, 63, of Kingston, Idaho, was sentenced on November 30, 2017, to 192 months in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for unlawfully distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone. Senior U.S.District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Beier to pay a $63,000 fine and...

SEATTLE - Former Seattle police officer pleaded guilty today for his role in the smuggling of hundreds of pounds of marijuana from the Seattle area to Baltimore, Maryland. Alex Chapackdee, 44, of Seattle, was a 16-year veteran of the Seattle Police (SPD), who resigned shortly after his arrest in May...

MEDFORD, Ore. - On Thursday, November 16, 2017, United States District Judge Michael J. McShane sentenced Brian Keith Sunkenberg, 53, to 45 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to endangering human life by manufacturing marijuana in the form of hash oil. Judge McShane ordered Sunkenberg to pay $27,671 in...

September 29 , 2017 Contact: Public Information Officer Number: 206-553-1162 @DEASeattleDiv BEND, Ore) - On Wednesday, September 27, 2017, a joint operation involving the DEA, FBI, and Central Oregon Drug (CODE) Team resulted in the federal arrest of nine people charged with participation in a drug distribution network operating in...

September 13 , 2017 Contact: Public Information Officer Number: 206-553-1162 @DEASeattleDiv ANCHORAGE - On September 12, 2017, a federal grand jury in Anchorage returned a series of indictments charging individuals with fentanyl trafficking and other criminal offenses. Fentanyl, sometimes known on the street as “Grey Death,” is a powerful opioid...

SEATTLE, Wash. - The Department of Justice and (a division of Albertson’s Companies, Inc.) have reached a civil settlement of allegations the company failed to timely report controlled substances that were missing from pharmacies. Safeway will pay the United States $3 million and implement a compliance agreement reached with the...

SEATTLE, Wash. - Two Ecuadoran brothers were indicted in the Western District of Washington for ten felony counts related to distribution of heroin and laundering the proceeds of their drug sales. Fredy Ramon Gutama-Gutama, 25, and Fabian Martin Gutama-Gutama, 20, both of Lynnwood, Washington, were observed by law enforcement between...

SEATTLE, Wash. - Enrique Aguiliar Valencia, the leader of a drug trafficking organization, who admits his connection to the Los Zetas drug cartel was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 12 years in prison. Valencia, 55, who resided in Fremont, California, led a drug distribution ring that...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Three defendants were sentenced to federal prison last week for drug trafficking, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Matthew Barden and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Santiago (aka Chuco), age 47, of Commerce, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 151...