United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SPOKANE, Wash.– Acting United States Attorney Stephanie Van Marter announced that Luis Esquivel-Bolanos (a/k/a “Colorado”), age 45, of Guerrero, Mexico was sentenced on multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges. Esquivel-Bolanos was found guilty on April 16, 2025, following a jury trial. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Esquivel-Bolanos to 19 years in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.

Based on court documents and evidence presented at trial and sentencing, in January 2023, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) identified Esquivel-Bolanos as a member of a drug trafficking organization, which had flooded the Eastern District of Washington, including the Oroville area and the Colville Indian Reservation, with methamphetamine and fentanyl. The organization spread as far as central Montana, where many of the illegal drugs were being sold on Tribal land, including on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Rocky Boy’s, Fort Belknap, and Flathead Reservations. Within Eastern Washington, the organization was run by Esquivel-Bolanos and his co-defendant, Erubey Arciga Medrano. Esquivel-Bolanos was directly below Medrano, who previously pled guilty to his role in the drug trafficking conspiracy.

The organization used threatening tactics to maintain control over their drug-distribution activities.  In one instance, the organization threatened that the Jalisco Cartel, who supplied drugs to Esquivel-Bolanos and his associates, would kill a confidential informant, who was strip searched when the informant was accused of being a “snitch.” On a separate occasion – not long before police were able to intervene and shut down the organization – Esquivel-Bolanos and others arranged for members of the organization to go to the home of a person suspected of stealing more than thirty pounds of methamphetamine from the organization and to threaten to kill that the suspected thief.   

On April 19, 2023, BIA, DEA, 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 homes in rural Okanogan County, near Oroville, Washington. In total, investigators seized approximately 161,000 fentanyl-laced pills (to include Mexi-blues and rainbow-colored pills), approximately 80 pounds of methamphetamine, approximately 6 pounds of heroin, and more than 2 pounds of cocaine. The BIA, DEA, and their partners also seized approximately 12 firearms. Many of these drugs were obtained inside a trailer, where Esquivel-Bolanos was living at the time.   

“Mr. Esquivel-Bolanos pedaled poisonous fentanyl, meth, and cocaine on behalf of a now-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization threatening violence and death to control his turf,” said David F. Reames, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “He richly deserves the lengthy sentence he received in this case and I am proud that DEA and our partners at BIA and the North Central Washington Narcotics Task Force could deliver justice on behalf of our community.”

“This case involved one of the largest drug seizures ever in rural Washington. Mr. Esquivel-Bolanos’s organization was major source of illegal narcotics across Washington and Montana. These drugs caused serious harm across our region and especially in our tribal communities.” stated Acting United States Attorney Stephanie Van Marter. “Thanks to countless hours of work and coordination between prosecutors in my office and federal, state, and tribal law enforcement, this drug network was dismantled and Mr. Esquivel-Bolanos was held accountable for his actions.”

“The Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement takes great pride in the relationships it has built with tribal, federal, state, and local agencies across the nation,” said BIA-DDE Deputy Associate Director Tom Atkinson. “Together, we remain committed to safeguarding communities and upholding tribal sovereignty through coordinated enforcement efforts. The sentence handed down in this case reflects the gravity of the individual’s actions. This organization has impacted countless lives across reservations and surrounding communities—both within and beyond Indian Country.”

This case was prosecuted under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program. The OCDETF program provides supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved in the investigation of transnational drug trafficking and related offenses. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is partnering with federal, state, local, and Tribal law enforcement to specifically identify the criminals responsible for these drug related offenses in the Eastern District of Washington and pursue criminal prosecution.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the North Central Washington Narcotics Task Force.  The investigation team was assisted by the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Okanogan County Sheriff, Colville Tribal Police Department, and the Kalispel Tribal Police Department. The Eastern Washington cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nowles H. Heinrich, former Acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker, and Contractor Echo D. Fatsis. Twenty-seven defendants were charged and convicted through a parallel prosecution handled by AUSAs and support staff in the District of Montana.  

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