United States Drug Enforcement Administration

TACOMA, Wash. – A 42-year-old Phoenix man with prior convictions for drug trafficking was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 150 months (12.5 years) in prison for acting as a broker for huge amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl headed to western Washington. Ryan Matthew Gennette was a long-time resident of Auburn, Washington, before relocating to Phoenix. Gennette was tied to large shipments of methamphetamine and fentanyl tainted M30 pills. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said that Genette was “willing to engage in the large-scale distribution of dangerous substances for money.”  

“Not only did Mr. Gennette traffic huge amounts of dangerous drugs by mail and by courier, he was also involved in sending firearms to cartel connected drug sources in Mexico,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “This sentence takes a repeat offender out of the drug business for a significant period.” 

This Homeland Security Task Force investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

“Mr. Gennette chose to profit from trafficking massive quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl, putting countless lives at risk in the Pacific Northwest,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “This sentence demonstrates that DEA and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue those who fuel the deadly fentanyl crisis. Through Fentanyl Free America, we are disrupting the fentanyl supply chain, reducing its availability, and holding those who traffic these deadly drugs accountable.”

According to records filed in the case, Gennette was already on law enforcement radar in June 2024 when he shipped two large boxes containing seven kilograms of fentanyl pills, almost two kilograms of fentanyl powder, and over ten kilograms of actual methamphetamine to an address on Whidbey Island. Law enforcement seized and replaced the drugs with sham materials so that they could gather information on Gennette’s drug network.

Next Gennette sent nine kilograms of methamphetamine via courier – it too was seized by law enforcement.

Over time, law enforcement worked with confidential informants to place orders for large amounts of drugs from Gennette. This led to Gennette reaching out to an alleged contact in Mexico, Donald Budge. Budge is also charged in this case and is detained pending trial scheduled for December 15, 2026. Budge is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Gennette sent shipments of highly pure methamphetamine on two occasions in October 2024 – those shipments came into law enforcement custody. A shipment of 13 kilos of methamphetamine was tested as being 100 percent pure. A final shipment of over 64 kilograms of 

actual methamphetamine, plus 6.5 kilograms of counterfeit “M30” pills manufactured to look like prescription oxycodone, was seized from a courier in a traffic stop. 

Both men were arrested in November 2024 – Gennette in Phoenix and Budge in Tijuana, Mexico.

Gennette pleaded guilty in May 2026.

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 investigation was led by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). There is significant assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS),  the Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team (Auburn Police Department, Bonney Lake Police Department, Lakewood Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, Puyallup Police Department, Tacoma Police Department, Washington State Department of Corrections) the Skagit County Interlocal Drug Enforcement Unit (which includes the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, Mt. Vernon Police Department, Burlington Police Department, Anacortes Police Department and the Oak Harbor Police Department) as well as the Island County Sheriff’s Office.