Tacoma- A 28-year-old citizen of Mexico was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 46 months in prison for his drug-dealing activity in Western Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Omar Arellano-Hernandez had traveled to the Pacific Northwest from Mexico and was staying at a Tukwila hotel when...

Spokane - Esther Rae Tuller, age 40, of Moses Lake, Washington, has pleaded guilty to tampering with morphine medication while working as a registered nurse. Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian accepted Tuller’s guilty plea and scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 17, 2022, in Spokane. According to...

BOISE – A Nampa man was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. According to court records, Patrick William Collingwood, 39, of Nampa, transported methamphetamine and cash between Mexico and Idaho for a period of approximately four months before his arrest...

Seattle – Three men who were convicted at trial in August 2021, of multiple federal felonies for distributing fentanyl pills in Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom Counties, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. The leader of the drug ring, Bradley Woolard, 41, of Arlington, was sentenced...

COEUR D’ALENE – Dr. Eric Benson, an internist practicing medicine in Post Falls, Idaho, agreed to pay $110,000 to resolve allegations that he unlawfully prescribed opioids and other controlled substances to patients between 2014-2021. The settlement, which was based in part on Dr. Benson’s ability to pay, also restricts the...

BOISE – Luis Leyva Verduzco was sentenced to 82 months in federal prison for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. According to court records, beginning in early 2020, law enforcement received information that Verduzco, 32, a Mexican national living in Jerome, was involved in the distribution of methamphetamine...

SPOKANE, Washington – Christopher M. Valley, N.D., a Spokane-based naturopathic doctor, has agreed to pay $47,700 to resolve allegations under the Controlled Substances Act that he improperly prescribed controlled substances between December 2015 and December 2020. The Controlled Substances Act regulates certain drugs deemed to pose a risk of abuse...

POCATELLO – A federal jury sitting in Pocatello convicted an Idaho Falls man of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, attempted possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and deported alien found in the United States. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, on September 26, 2017, Jose Luis Cruz-Delgado...

PORTLAND, Ore.—In August and October 2021, coordinated law enforcement operations targeting two Portland-area transnational drug trafficking cells led to the arrests of the cells’ leaders and more than a dozen associates, and the seizure of approximately 200,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills suspected to contain fentanyl, two pounds of fentanyl powder, 40...

Seattle – A series of arrests over the last ten days has disrupted a multi-state methamphetamine and fentanyl distribution ring. The drugs were coming up from California and were being distributed in King, Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Mason and Kitsap counties. The 18-month investigation revealed the drug trafficking organization was also...