Four Charged in Connection with Drug Distribution Scheme Involving Cocaine and Firearms
Leader of Conspiracy was Attempting to Trade 20 Pounds of Cocaine for Crystal Meth and Cash
Ten kilos of cocaine seized.
SEATTLE – Four people are charged federally for a drug trafficking conspiracy involving more than 20 pounds of cocaine. Lead defendant, Luis Donaldo Galeana Garcia, 29, a Mexican citizen residing in Marysville, was ordered detained late yesterday when the magistrate judge found him both a flight risk and a danger to the community.
The defendants in this case were identified last summer as possible members of a drug trafficking conspiracy. Initially, HSI agents identified Galeana Garcia as a major drug distributor in the western region of Washington State. By late September 2025, law enforcement obtained information pertaining to Galeana Garcia’s intentions of exchanging approximately 20 pounds of cocaine for 15 pounds of methamphetamine and $155,000. Three others were involved in the drug exchange: Juan Carlos Garnica Pacheco, 33, of Everett, Lorena Esquivel,35, and Dustin Ray Binion,27, both of Bellingham.
Law enforcement intervened in the drug exchange. Galeana Garcia and Garnica Pacheco abandoned the car they were driving. Various vehicles were seized by law enforcement and court authorized search warrants resulted in the seizure of more than 10 kilograms of cocaine and a 9mm firearm in the center console of one of the vehicles. After law enforcement had identified and located the various defendants they executed search warrants on their residences last week. Galeana-Garcia and Garnica Pacheco both had a significant number of firearms and ammunition for semiautomatic weapons. That evidence as to Galeana Garcia was presented to Magistrate Judge Kate Vaughan who ordered him detained.
Due to the significant amount of narcotics involved in this case the defendants face a mandatory minimum ten years in prison.
The charges contained in the criminal complaint are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
These arrests are 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. The HSTF 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), and the 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.
Homeland Security Investigations is investigating the case. The DEA, FBI and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office provided key assistance.
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