United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Seattle –A 35-year-old Mexican national who was illegally residing in California was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 15 years in prison for her leadership role of a massive drug distribution ring. Iris Adrianna Amador-Garcia of Bellflower, California, arranged for the distribution of pound quantities of methamphetamine, hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills and large quantities of heroin. She also laundered drug proceeds, possessed firearms, and distributed drugs as far away as New York, southeastern states, and Fiji. After one large load of drugs was seized during a traffic stop, Amador-Garcia hatched a plan to locate and kill the Centralia police officer who made the stop.

In ordering the 15-year sentence, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said, “Threats against law enforcement is a line in the sand that is completely unacceptable.” 

“This sentence sends a clear message that those who traffic fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other deadly drugs into our communities, and those who threaten violence against law enforcement, will be held accountable,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “Amador-Garcia led a far-reaching criminal organization that distributed dangerous narcotics across the country while sourcing drugs from Mexico and seeking to retaliate against an officer who disrupted the operation. Through DEA’s Fentanyl Free America, we are working every day to disrupt the fentanyl supply chain, reduce the availability of these deadly drugs, and save American lives.”   

“This criminal organization was well-organized, well-sourced, and well-connected. This defendant was prepared to take drastic measures to protect what she had built. She and her criminal associates were intercepted openly discussing killing an officer after a large shipment of drugs was seized,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Floyd. “I am grateful for the diligent work of law enforcement to keep that officer safe, and to take these dangerous traffickers off the street and shut down their pipeline of devastating narcotics.” 

According to records filed in the case, law enforcement identified the leaders of the drug trafficking ring as early as February 2020. Indictments were returned in the fall of 2021. The drug ring, headed by Amador-Garcia and Jose Alfredo Maldonado-Ramirez, distributed drugs widely: in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized 9 pounds of methamphetamine in a traffic stop on May 16, 2020. Another 30 pounds of meth were seized in a stop on April 2, 2021, and 57 pounds of methamphetamine and 20,000 fentanyl pills were seized in a traffic stop on September 28, 2021.  Additionally, on August 17, 2021, law enforcement seized 19 pounds of methamphetamine that conspirators attempted to mail to Fiji.

During a search of the residence where Iris Amador-Garcia was living with her brother and two co-conspirators, agents seized a kilogram of fentanyl, 80,000 fentanyl pills, and 2 firearms.   Eight additional firearms were seized at other search locations in Washington and California.

In asking for a 15-year sentence for Amador-Garcia, prosecutors noted that she was an equal leader of the ring along with Maldonado-Ramirez. “The nation-wide reach of this Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO), led by Iris AMADOR-GARCIA and MALDONADO-RAMIREZ, sets it apart from most organizations prosecuted in this District. This DTO distributed dangerous drugs to all corners of the United States…. they distributed to several large redistributors in Washington, as well as others in the northeast (New York and Massachusetts), the southeast (Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, and Arkansas), and the Midwest (Illinois and Ohio). In addition, the DTO even expanded to distributing drugs internationally to Fiji. The majority of drugs they were selling, both in Washington and elsewhere, were coming from Iris AMADOR-GARCIA’s family in Mexico.”

“Ms. Amador-Garcia and her organization distributed incredibly large amounts of deadly drugs to all corners of the country. Not only did she deal drugs, she also inflicted violence on our communities,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office. “IRS-CI and our law enforcement partners are committed to making our streets safer as we continue to investigate and dismantle drug trafficking organizations like Ms. Amador-Garcia’s.” 

The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Seattle Field Division (SFD) Tacoma Resident Office (TRO) and Bremerton Police Department (BPD), with assistance from  Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement (TNET); the Seattle, Puyallup, Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, Bonney Lake, Tacoma,  and Lakewood Police Departments; the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office; Washington State Department of Corrections; Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET): Centralia and Chehalis Police Departments; Valley Narcotics Enforcement Team (VNET); and Washington State Patrol; Thurston Narcotics Team (TNT), Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, and Mason County Sheriff’s Office; United States Postal Inspections Service (USPIS), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) with support from Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas ( HIDTA).

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. 

###