Seattle – Fourteen people were indicted in late May and eleven were taken into custody in coordinated arrests last week as part of an ongoing investigation of drug traffickers with ties to drug trafficking in Seattle’s International District and homeless encampments, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. The defendants...

HOUSTON – A 33-year-old Houston resident has been ordered to federal prison following his convictions for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Division William Kimbell and...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A Salem, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison for possessing and trafficking more than 40 pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin. Rico Anthony Russell Rigutto, 46, was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release. According to court documents, on December 14, 2021, as...

Tacoma – A major redistributor for a South Sound-based drug trafficking ring that was connected to Aryan prison gangs was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 126 months in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. 46-year-old Joseph Hempel, of Burien, Washington, was a high-volume drug...

SEATTLE – A 38-year-old Mexican citizen who previously resided in Kent, Washington was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison for drug trafficking. Ramon Duarte Garcia was arrested in June 2024, following a drug investigation lasting nearly four years. Between 2020 and June 2024...

PORTLAND, Ore.— A suspected drug trafficker faces federal charges after he was caught transporting more than 60 pounds of powdered fentanyl on Interstate 5 near Albany, Oregon. Jose Ivan Iribe Camorlinga, 46, a Mexican national unlawfully residing in Oakland, California, has been charged by criminal complaint with possessing fentanyl with...

YAKIMA, Wash. – Gabriela Abundiz, age 45, was sentenced after pleading guilty to distributing methamphetamine. Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian imposed a sentence of 180 months to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. According to court documents and information presented at the sentencing hearing, in...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A suspended member of the Alaska Bar was arrested Wednesday after a federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment charging him with maintaining a drug-involved premise for the purpose of distributing and using controlled substances, and with possessing firearms as a prohibited person and in furtherance...

EL PASO, Texas – An indictment unsealed today in the Western District of Texas is the first in the nation to charge a Mexican national with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization based on her involvement with the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), including providing the...

MEDFORD, Ore.—A Grants Pass, Oregon, man is facing federal charges for trafficking fentanyl and illegally possessing a firearm, announced the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. Christopher Smith, 38, has been charged by criminal complaint with possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl and possessing a firearm in furtherance...