RICHLAND, Wash. – United States District Judge Mary K. Dimke sentenced Jose Mendoza-Ruelas, 38, to 150 months in federal prison after his guilty plea to Conspiracy to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Actual (Pure) Methamphetamine, 400 Grams or More of Fentanyl, and 5 Kilograms or More of Cocaine. Mendoza-Ruelas...

SPOKANE, Wash. –The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement (BIA), and the North Central Washington Narcotics Task Force, and other federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, executed a series of federal search warrants at a number of residential locations in rural Okanogan County...

BOISE, Idaho – Two men from southern Idaho were sentenced to federal prison in separate drug trafficking cases, announced U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit. Steven Feller, 65, of Kuna, was sentenced to 114 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Senior U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill...

TACOMA, Wash. – Twenty-seven people were indicted by a grand jury for drug trafficking, and many of those in the indictment are tied to the “Aryan Family,” a white supremacist prison gang, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Twenty-four of the defendants have been arrested over the last five days in...

SEATTLE – Two members of a drug trafficking ring that buried drugs and cash on a rural property near Arlington, Washington, were sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Jose Arrondondo-Valdez, 27, was sentenced to nine years in prison and Yvette Olguin, 40, was...

Seattle – The leader of a violent, prolific drug trafficking ring was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 15 years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Cesar Valdez-Sanudo, 36, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to commit money laundering and...

Seattle – The mid-level leader of a drug distribution cell that was one of the most violent seen in the Western District of Washington was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Jose Daniel Espinoza, 35, was indicted and...

Yakima, Washington – On January 24, 2023, United States District Judge Mary K. Dimke sentenced Alexis Sanchez-Gomez, 21, of Moxee, Washington, to 12 years in federal prison after his guilty plea to Possession of Firearms in Furtherance of a Drug-Trafficking crime. Sanchez-Gomez, a documented member of the Lower Valley Locos...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A Honduran man residing in Portland is facing federal charges after he was arrested moving two kilograms of rainbow-colored fentanyl and several firearms between two Portland-area motels. Jose Isidro Zuniga Torres, 47, has been charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to possess and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl...

SEATTLE – Three significant drug trafficking groups responsible for trafficking more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills are facing federal charges tonight. Federal investigators and local law enforcement partners seized two RVs packed with meth and fake pills after they were driven from California...