News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: June 16, 2010
Contact: Jodie Underwood
Number: (206) 553-5443

Meth Dealer Gets 17.5 Years In Federal Prison

JUN 16 -- (Spokane) –– Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Thomas announced that on June 14, 2010, Jesus Guillermo Bueno-Martinez, 34, originally from Mexico and formerly residing in Pasco, was sentenced to 210 months in prison. While it is expected that Bueno-Martinez will be deported from the United States, he will be under federal court supervision for the rest of his life, should he attempt to return to the United States.

In January 2010, Bueno-Martinez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine. He was arrested on October 1, 2008, during the execution of over a dozen search warrants in the Tri-Cities and Spokane, involving about 200 federal, state and local law enforcement authorities. This enforcement operation capped an 18-month investigation into a multi-year conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine into Eastern Washington and the surrounding communities. Bueno-Martinez was arrested as he drove away from a Pasco home with 31.8 pounds of pure methamphetamine. Additionally, he had a satchel containing $190,249.98 in cash. That currency, along with other cash and property, has been forfeited to the United States and will be shared with the state and local partners participating in the investigation.

The Mexican based organization was identified to a particular family originating from the Quilar Village area of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico and is responsible for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine into the Spokane community since the late 1990s. Additionally, this organization distributed drugs into Northern Idaho, Portland, Oregon, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. Their criminal activities have spanned three generations of family members and many of the family members and their drug couriers were illegally in the United States. They have used multiple false identities and fraudulent social security numbers in attempts to conceal and further their illegal operations. The organization regularly put illegal aliens to work as drug couriers and threatened them and their families with harm if they cooperated with law enforcement when they were arrested.

Of the forty six charged, fourteen are believed to have fled to Mexico and remain fugitives. Six defendants are pending sentencing.

he investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Tri-Cities Metro Drug Task Force, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, the Pasco Police Department, the Kennewick Police Department, the Richland Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Patrol, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the Spokane Police Department, the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force, the Border Patrol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Social Security Administration.