More than 35 Arrested on Indictments and Criminal Complaints
Charging Gun and Drug Crimes
In the
fourth major drug trafficking ring takedown in as many months, federal, state
and local law enforcement officers fanned out across King, Pierce, Snohomish,
Skagit and Thurston Counties to execute search warrants and arrest more than 35
members of a drug trafficking organization, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L.
Hayes. Today’s arrests are the fourth
takedown in a series of cases aimed at reducing drug and gang violence in
Seattle, South King and North Pierce Counties.
Those taken into custody today will appear at 2:00 in U.S. District
Court in Seattle.
“Over the
last four months, more than 80 drug dealing conspirators moving meth, heroin,
cocaine and fentanyl have been taken off our streets where they preyed on
destructive addictions and used gun crime to further their trade,” said U.S.
Attorney Annette Hayes. “For more than a year, local police worked with federal
partners to build these cases, with the goal of addressing the shifting crime
problems in South Sound communities.”
U.S.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has directed U.S. Attorneys to deploy their
resources to identify and address ‘hot spots’ of violent crime. Working with local law enforcement across the
South Sound, federal law enforcement identified Seattle, the Rainier and Kent
Valleys and North Pierce County as an area of concern for drug and gun crime.
Today’s takedown comes on the heels of three other law enforcement efforts
involving wire-taps and surveillance to dismantle sophisticated drug trafficking
rings linked to violence in those areas.
The first takedown involved five defendants trafficking crack cocaine in
Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood;
the second, in March resulted in twenty arrests of heroin and meth
traffickers operating primarily in South King County and the Tacoma area; and
in May, a third takedown dismantled two
criminal groups trafficking methamphetamine in south King County.
“DEA is in
a race to save lives,” said Keith Weis the Special Agent in Charge for the Pacific
Northwest. “These strategic operations
have stopped some of the most violent criminal groups operating throughout the
Puget Sound Region from pushing dangerous drugs onto our communities most
vulnerable members facing life or death struggles against addiction.”
“The FBI is
committed to holding violent gang members accountable for their actions,” said
Special Agent in Charge Jay S. Tabb Jr., of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office.
“The level of violence committed by these individuals has been detrimental to
the South Sound community for years. Today’s arrests mark a major step toward
addressing this problem.”
According
to records filed in the case, conspirators trafficked cocaine, heroin,
oxycodone, illegal marijuana and fentanyl.
Associates of some of the traffickers arrested today were shot and some
killed in various shooting incidents in both Seattle and south King
County. On the wiretap law enforcement
heard conspirators talk about various shootings after they occurred, including
the September 4, 2017 shooting outside a Renton hookah lounge. Among other things, conspirators discussed
getting firearms after being shot at by rival gangs.
Taken
together, these four operations resulted in the seizure of 75 guns, more than
95 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 32 pounds of heroin, more than 7 pounds
of cocaine (both crack and powder) as well as ecstasy and fentanyl. More than $327,000 in cash and 22 vehicles
also were seized.
In
addition, today alone law enforcement seized 12 pounds of heroin, more than 2
kilos of cocaine, a pound of methamphetamine, 124 pounds of marijuana, 41
firearms and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
“Today,
hundreds of law enforcement professionals came together to make our
neighborhoods safer, taking criminals and drugs off the street and possibly
saving lives,” said Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best. “As a former Narcotics
commander, I recognize the tireless work that goes into these investigations.
Together with our federal and local partners, we have orchestrated one of the
largest investigations in recent memory. A special thanks to the FBI, DEA and
the US Attorney’s Office. This level of collaboration is unprecedented.”
“The U.S.
Marshals have always believed in the power of collaboration, and the
effectiveness of combining the resources and expertise of our federal, state,
and local law enforcement partners for the common good. Today, that tradition
of collaboration continues and we are proud to be a part of it”, said Acting
U.S. Marshal Jacob Green.
The
charges contained in the indictment 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.
The defendants in these cases face a
variety of drug and gun charges. The penalties range from five years in prison
to a maximum of life in prison depending on the pertinent charge.
This case is
part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all
levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent
crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated
PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent
criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with
federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to
develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
This was an Organized Crime and Drug
Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, providing supplemental federal
funding to the federal and state agencies involved. This investigation was led by the Seattle
Police Department Gang and Narcotics Units, FBI Seattle Safe Streets Task
Force, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Other agencies providing investigative
assistance include ATF, USMS, and the U.S Bureau of Prisons.
Today’s
searches and arrests involved agents and officers from: DEA, FBI, ATF, HSI,
USMS, SPD, Auburn Police Department,
Bellevue Police Department, Bothell
Police Department, Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Des Moines Police Department,
Everett Police Department, Fife Police Department, Kent Police Department, King
County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO), Kirkland Police Department, Lakewood Police
Department, Lewis County Sheriff’s
Office, Marysville Police Department, Monroe Police Department, Mount Vernon
Police Department, Mukilteo Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office
(PCSO), Renton Police Department,
Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Snohomish County Drug and Gang Task
Force, Tacoma Police Department,
Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, Tukwila Police Department, U.S Customs
and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Postal Inspection Service,
Washington Department of Corrections, Washington State Patrol, and the Yakima
Police Department, and the following regional SWAT teams, SPD SWAT, Valley SWAT, North Sound Metro SWAT, Region 1
SWAT, Pierce County Metro SWAT, King
County Sheriff’s Office TAC-30, Washington State Patrol SWAT, Pierce County
Sheriff’s Office SWAT, and Bellevue SWAT.
In addition,
the operations were conducted with the support of the FBI’s Critical Incident
Response Group (CIRG) and SWAT teams from the FBI’s Salt Lake City, Portland,
San Francisco, Sacramento, and Denver field offices. DEA’s Special Response
Team’s (SRT) from Seattle, Los Angeles, Denver, and San Diego assisted in
today’s operations. This investigation
was supported by Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and the
Special Operations Division (SOD).
The
indictments returned today are being prosecuted by Assistant United States
Attorneys Vince Lombardi, Erin Becker and Nicholas Manheim.
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