United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SEATTLE –A Tacoma man who continued to distribute large amounts of fentanyl pills even after being found with a large load of methamphetamine was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 66 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Rogelio Pena, 22, is one of thirteen people who was indicted in the case in May 2024. The 18-month wiretap investigation revealed that Pena was a trusted member of the conspiracy both for delivering drugs and for having access to the group’s stash house. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson said, “This was a lot of drugs and a large conspiracy… The impact on the community is significant.”

“This drug trafficking organization flooded the Pacific Northwest with fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “The fentanyl alone seized in this case contained enough lethal doses to kill more than 200,000 people in Western Washington. The Drug Enforcement Administration is thankful to our Federal, state, and local partners who worked with us tirelessly on this case to help save American lives as we work together to make America Fentanyl Free.”

“Whether riding with 28-pound load of methamphetamine, or attempting to deliver 20,000 fentanyl pills, this defendant did not let intervention by law enforcement stop him,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Those who deliver these poisons to our communities face significant time in prison.”

In the wiretap investigation law enforcement seized approximately 81 kilograms of methamphetamine, 49 kilograms of fentanyl pills, and 15 kilograms of cocaine. On June 28, 2023, Pena was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by law enforcement that contained more than 25 pounds of methamphetamine. But even after this traffic stop, Pena was heard on the wiretap arranging the delivery of 20,000 fentanyl pills. Pena was so trusted by the drug trafficking organization that he managed the possession of keys to the storage area where the group kept its drug supply.

As more rental cars were stopped with drug loads on the way north, conspirators began bringing drugs to the Seattle area via bus. On April 11, 2024, the Portland Police Department seized 7.5 kilograms of fentanyl laced pills from a bag that had been abandoned at a bus station by one of the coconspirators. In early May 2024 law enforcement moved in and made arrests.

In asking for a 66-month sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “Pena, along with his co-conspirators, were responsible for flooding these highly dangerous and addictive substances into the community for profit and contributed to the addiction of an unknown number of individuals. The drugs that Pena was peddling caused irreparable harm to the community in general as well as to the families whose members are addicted to controlled substances. During 2023, when Pena was actively engaged in drug trafficking, there was an overwhelming 1,340 fatal overdose deaths in King County alone.”

“Pena and his co-conspirators were caught trafficking kilogram quantities of illegal drugs into Washington state on multiple occasions in 2023 and 2024," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. "Today’s sentence holds Mr. Pena accountable for his role in this conspiracy that threatened our communities with dangerous drugs and high-powered firearms. FBI Seattle is grateful for the many federal, state, and local partners, including those in other states, who work with us to protect the people of the Pacific Northwest.”

This investigation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Seattle comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), The United States Marshals Service (USMS), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), the United States Secret Service (USSS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. 

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Seattle Police Department, Oregon State Police, Portland Police Department, California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Strike Force, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Centralia Police Department.

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