SEATTLE – Seven people have been indicted in the Western District of Washington in an investigation that began with a drug trafficking ring in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Over the past 36 hours, law enforcement has taken all of the defendants into custody, with three arrested in...

SEATTLE – A 46-year-old Marysville, Washington woman, who co-owned a Lake Stevens, Washington restaurant used for drug trafficking, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison for distributing methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Laura Rodriguez-Moreno has been in custody since...

BOSTON – Northeast Hospital Corporation (Northeast), part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, has agreed to pay $1.9 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations that Northeast violated the Controlled Substance Act (the CSA) by failing to keep accurate records of controlled substances, including opioids. The CSA requires accurate inventorying and...

SEATTLE – Six members of a drug distribution conspiracy operating in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties are charged federally with various drug and firearms crimes. On Wednesday, in searches of eight locations in Whatcom and Snohomish Counties, law enforcement seized: 85,000 fentanyl pills, 2.3 kilograms fentanyl powder, 6.2 kilograms methamphetamine...

Seattle – A 31-year-old Renton, Washington man was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison for his role in a violent, cartel connected drug distribution ring, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Benjamin Fuentes was indicted in July 2020, along with more than a...

SEATTLE- Two men who served as drug runners for a Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) cartel connected drug trafficking organization were sentenced to prison following an extensive wiretap investigation. In sentencing 28-year-old Armando Fierro-Ponce to eight years in prison, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour noted that he had acted...

EUGENE, Ore.--Two California men have been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin from California to Oregon. Jack Scott Lewis, 36, of Los Angeles, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release. Previously, on June 6, 2022, Lewis’s accomplice, Michael...

SEATTLE – Three significant drug trafficking groups responsible for trafficking more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills are facing federal charges tonight. Federal investigators and local law enforcement partners seized two RVs packed with meth and fake pills after they were driven from California...

BOISE, Idaho– Steven John Gallardo, 43, of Boise, Idaho was sentenced to 92 months in federal prison for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine. According to court records, between March and July 2021, Gallardo was involved in the distribution of large quantities of methamphetamine in the Boise area. On three occasions...

BOISE, Idaho – A Boise man was sentenced to 175 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and the unlawful possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced. According to court records, on November 12, 2021, law enforcement attempted to conduct a traffic stop on...