SEATTLE, Wash. – A 32-year-old citizen of Mexico pleaded guilty today to drug trafficking and firearms charges related to his distribution of narcotics at a Bellingham homeless encampment, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Rigoberto Vasquez-Martinez has been in federal custody since he was arrested on August 29, 2023, following...

BOISE, Idaho– Patricia Gomez, 42, of Idaho Falls, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today. In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford ordered that Gomez serve three years of supervised release after her...

SPOKANE, Wash. - Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Amy Katherin Riggs, 36, of Dayton, Washington, was sentenced after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute 500 Grams or More of Methamphetamine and 400 Grams or More of Fentanyl. U.S. Senior District...

BOISE, Idaho – Tanner Lee Goforth, 37, of Nampa, pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl after selling a co-worker fentanyl that led to his overdose death, announced U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit today. According to court records, on May 17, 2022, Goforth met his friend and co-worker, the victim, at a...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that in 2023, the office she leads prosecuted 85 illegal firearm offenders, resulting in the seizure and forfeiture of 163 illegally owned, possessed, used, or obtained firearms. Firearms that are forfeited are removed from...

BOISE, Idaho – Four members of a drug trafficking conspiracy were recently sentenced to federal prison for distributing large quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Idaho, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today. According to court records, beginning in March 2023, Idaho State Police detectives working in coordination with the Drug...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration today issued a letter to e-commerce companies regarding the sale of pill presses. As regulated entities under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), e-commerce platforms are generally required to comply with CSA recordkeeping, identification, and reporting requirements on the distribution, importation, and exportation of...

RICHLAND, Wash. - Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Ruben Galvan-Trujillo, was sentenced on February 7, 2024, after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. United States...

BOISE, Idaho – Efren Avilez-Lopez, 81, and Maria Medina-Zeveda, 70, husband and wife, and both Mexican nationals illegally living in Ontario, Oregon, were sentenced for trafficking large amounts of methamphetamine in Idaho, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today. On February 12, 2024, Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Anchorage man was sentenced today to 20 years in prison, subsequent to his conviction by a federal jury of one count of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, one count of possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking and one count of felon...