Western District of Washington

Tacoma – A Jamaican citizen pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud for his lottery scheme that cost an elderly victim more than $550,000, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Roshard Andrew Carty, 34, was arrested in Jamaica on August 21, 2025, and arrived in the Western District of Washington for arraignment on October 23, 2025. Carty will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright on May 14, 2026.

According to records filed in the case, Carty first contacted the 73-year-old Vancouver, Washington victim in 2020. He posed as an employee of Publisher’s Clearinghouse and claimed the victim won $22 million and a car in the lottery, but that she needed to pay taxes and fees to access her winnings. He convinced the victim that the FBI was recording the call and told her she was not to tell anyone about the big win. Between August 2020 and February 2024, he convinced the victim to send more than $550,000 to various money couriers throughout the United States, who ultimately sent the money to Carty in Jamaica.

Carty’s requests for cash started small and grew over time. He had the victim remove small amounts of cash from her accounts and send them to a U.S. location via FedEx. Carty told the victim the money was lost or stolen and demanded more. Carty told the victim to borrow against her home so she could send more money. Carty convinced the victim to sell her home to cover additional “costs and fees” to claim her prize.  In all, Carty stole more than $550,000 from the victim by having her mail the money to various couriers in the U.S.

Carty was relentless in contacting the victim using various phone numbers and texting programs. He contacted her thousands of times throughout the fraud. When she tried to cut off contact, he tried sending tow trucks, and pizza deliveries, and asked her landlord for a welfare check to try to get back in touch with the victim.

Carty was indicted in November 2024. Following his August 2025 arrest in Jamaica, Carty consented to extradition to the United States.

The U.S. Embassy in Jamaica has a page devoted to lottery scams based in that country. Find it here. The bottom line: You never should pay to receive a prize and any request for advance fees is a scam.

Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than 41 months in prison and the defense is free to recommend any sentence. Judge Cartwright is not bound by the recommendation and can impose any sentence allowed by law.

The case is being investigated by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lauren Watts Staniar and David T. Martin. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with the Government of Jamaica to secure the arrest and extradition of Carty.

Seattle – The Mexico-based leader of a violent drug trafficking organization was arraigned today in U.S. District Court in Seattle, following his transfer from Mexico, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Jose Luis Sanchez-Valencia, 58, was transported from Mexico to the United States last month. The indictment for four federal felonies was returned in 2022. Sanchez-Valencia is charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and three counts of illegal use of a communication facility. Sanchez-Valencia entered a plea of “Not guilty,” and trial was set in front of U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour on April 20, 2026.

“This defendant was the cartel-connected leader of a violent drug trafficking ring operating in the South Puget Sound region,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Floyd. “His telephone calls link him to the conspiracy and to a local leader who was shot outside a Kitsap County stash house. Our goal in these investigations is to bring the leaders to justice. Whether they are here in Washington or abroad, they are pulling the strings for the cartels that profit at the cost of human lives in our community.” 

On February 28, 2023, a local leader of the drug ring, Jose Elias Barbosa, was sentenced to more than twelve years in prison for his leadership role in the drug trafficking organization tied to the CJNG cartel. The Sanchez-Valencia indictment cites three phone calls between Barbosa and Sanchez-Valencia tied to activities of the drug ring.

In November 2019, the DTO received a shipment of liquid methamphetamine concealed in candles. Barbosa helped DTO members to extract the methamphetamine and cook it into crystal form at a Port Orchard, Washington location. While law enforcement was surveilling the operation, Barbosa was shot behind the house.

The wiretapped calls in this investigation revealed a culture of violence. Members pursued those who owed drug debts to the organization and possessed firearms during the drug conspiracy. The wiretapped calls showed members discussed kidnappings, assaults, and even murders as ways to get debtors to pay up.

“This case underscores the relentless commitment of the Drug Enforcement Administration and our law enforcement partners to dismantle violent, cartel-connected drug trafficking organizations at every level,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “By bringing this defendant from Mexico to face justice in the United States, we are sending a clear message: no matter where cartel leaders attempt to hide, we will work across borders to hold them accountable. The trafficking of methamphetamine, concealed in everyday items like candle wax, demonstrates the lengths these organizations will go to poison our communities.”

Sanchez-Valencia was amongst 37 Mexican nationals wanted for serious crimes in the United States transferred into U.S. custody on Jan. 20. The Justice Department Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs coordinated the transfers.

The charges in the indictment have penalties of a mandatory minimum ten years in prison and up to life in prison.

The charges contained in the Sanchez-Valencia 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 case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Amy Jaquette and C. Andrew Colasurdo.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Tacoma Resident Office in partnership with Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team (TNET), Kent Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, SeaTac Police Department, Thurston County Narcotics Team (TNT), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Internal Revenue Service- Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

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. 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. 

Seattle – A 29-year-old Whatcom County man was arraigned today on an indictment for distributing fentanyl on Lummi Nation tribal land, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Stephan Charlot was first arrested by Lummi Nation Police on June 21, 2025, following the fentanyl overdose death of another Lummi Nation member on May 25, 2025. Charlot pleaded “Not Guilty” today in federal court. Trial in front of U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson is scheduled for April 6, 2026.

According to records filed in the case, emergency responders were called to a home on the Lummi Nation in Bellingham just after midnight. They found an adult woman unresponsive. Despite life-saving efforts, she could not be revived.

The investigation alleged that Charlot had supplied the fentanyl that the victim had ingested. Burned foil paper and Narcan doses were found in the room where the victim was located. Later the victim’s young child was forensically interviewed and described how her mother had started shaking and asked her daughter to “Hold her.” The child did, and said when her mother stopped shaking, she believed this was when her mother had died.

Using records on the victim’s phone, law enforcement located the person who had purchased the fentanyl from Charlot, brought it to the victim’s residence where the two of them used fentanyl together. Based upon a review of the cell phone evidence, investigators learned that this was not the first time that Charlot had sold fentanyl.

On February 3, 2026, Charlot was brought into federal custody and was ordered detained due in part to multiple prior tribal charges for distributing narcotics, and multiple warrants for failing to appear in court. Charlot has been in tribal custody since his arrest last year and was indicted by the grand jury on February 4, 2026.

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 case was investigated by the Lummi Nation Police Department and the FBI Northwestern Washington Safe Trails Task Force.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Celia Lee. Ms. Lee serves as a Tribal Liaison for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington.

Seattle – A 55-year-old Seattle man was convicted late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle of abusive sexual contact aboard an aircraft, announced First Assistant United States Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Jurors found Keith Witt molested the 19-year-old victim on an August 11, 2023, flight from Billings, Montana to Seattle. The jury deliberated for an hour and a half following a two-day trial. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez scheduled sentencing for May 22, 2026.

According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, the victim was in the window seat and Witt was next to her in the aisle seat on the 90-minute flight. Witt engaged the victim in conversation immediately upon boarding. The victim testified that he asked a number or personal questions that made her uncomfortable and touched her shoulder and earbuds, invading her space. The victim decided to feign sleep to avoid having to interact further.

The victim moved as far as she could towards the wall of the plane. Over several minutes, she felt Witt’s hand first move to her seat. Then he touched her thigh and after pausing continued to move his hand up to the hem of her shorts towards her genitalia. The victim flinched, and Witt would remove his hand, only to move it slowly back a few moments later. When the victim opened one eye, she was able to see that Witt appeared to be sexually aroused, and he was rubbing his erection. The victim got up and went to the front of the plane. She reported the conduct to the flight crew and closed herself in the restroom. In tears, she texted her mother about what had happened.

The flight attendants moved Witt to a seat at the back of the plane and reported the incident to the flight crew. The flight crew alerted personnel at SeaTac Airport, who contacted the Port of Seattle Police who met the plane and interviewed both Witt and the victim.

In closing argument Assistant United States Attorney Rachel Yemini noted that the victim’s testimony was corroborated by others on the plane who saw she was upset and crying. “There is no motive for (the victim) to fabricate the story. She suffered the consequences: she had to talk to the flight attendant; she had to talk to the detectives; she had to come to court and describe what happened to her to strangers. She had no motive to fabricate these allegations.”

In his rebuttal closing argument, Assistant United States Attorney Brian Wynne noted that Witt had testified that any contact was inadvertent as he had fallen asleep. Wynne said that testimony was simply not credible. “He was testing boundaries, pressing those boundaries… he does not want to bring attention to himself… he is trying to do it slowly and methodically. That is evidence of his intent.”

Abusive sexual contact on an aircraft is punishable by up to two years in prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Port of Seattle Police.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel Yemini and Brian Wynne.

Seattle – Two Texas men pleaded guilty over the last few weeks to four counts of bank robbery and two counts of attempted bank robbery for their scheme to steal from banks by assaulting and threatening ATM technicians, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.

Ahmon Hogg, 22, of Humble, Texas, and Seth Coles-Body, 23, of Houston, were identified as part of a robbery ring operating across the country. The men would disable ATM machines, and when the technician showed up to fix the machine, they would threaten or assault the technician to steal the cash containers, called cassettes, from the ATM. Both men are scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in April.

According to the plea agreements, in December 2024, the pair worked together to disable ATMs on December 23 and 24, when the machines would be loaded with cash for the Christmas holiday. The coconspirators disabled a Bank of America ATM in Renton, Washington. After the technician arrived and began repairing the machine, he was forcibly confronted by Hogg and Coles-Body who brandished a screwdriver and demanded he open the machine and provide them with the cash cassettes. The technician did not open the machine, and after a scuffle, the technician was able to escape.

The next day in Vancouver, Washington, a technician was sent to repair a Bank of America ATM on SE Mill Plain Boulevard. As the technician started repairs, Hogg and Coles-Body ran up and intimidated the victim and grabbed five cash cassettes filled with currency. The men fled in a car that matched one seen the previous day in connection with the attempted robbery in Renton.

The defendants also admitted they had disabled a Bank of America ATM in Battle Ground, Washington, that same day. 

While the investigations were ongoing in Washington, Hogg and Coles-Body were identified in connection with ATM tampering cases on January 3, 2025, in the Phoenix, Arizona area. ATMs for Bank of America and Wells Fargo had been tampered with like the Washington ATMs. Hogg and Coles-Body were stopped by Phoenix law enforcement while attempting to rob one of the ATMs they had disabled.

On March 7, 2025, the defendants committed another robbery at Bank of America in Redmond, Washington. An ATM repair technician was working on the machine that had been disabled by Hogg and Coles-Body.  Once the machine was open, two robbers ran up and stole cash canisters filled with money from the machine. Five of the canisters were later recovered, damaged, on the shoulder of highway 520. A few days later, Coles-Body was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol with approximately $209,000 in cash. The cash was seized, and Coles-Body was released.

In May 2025, Hogg and Coles-Body were back in Houston, where they reside, and committed another robbery of a Wells Fargo. A repair technician had the machine open to make repairs, and Coles-Body rushed the technician and caused injuries. The men stole about $117,000 from the machine and abandoned their car a short distance away.

In June 2025, the men traveled to Oregon and disabled ATMs in Tigard and Hillsboro. While in the area, the men robbed an ATM customer who had just used a different machine.

Hogg and Coles-Body then drove from Oregon to Maine and on June 30, 2025, they disabled a Bank of America ATM in South Portland, Maine. While the technician was making repairs the men rushed and beat the technician, stealing $47,000 from the Bank of America. 

The men left Maine and drove across the country to Jackson, Mississippi where they were arrested in a traffic stop. They had stolen firearms and significant amounts of cash in the car.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 121 months, or the high end of the sentencing guidelines range – whatever is higher. The defense agrees to request a sentence within the guidelines range calculated by Judge Robart at the time of sentencing.

Both men have agreed to pay restitution to the victims currently determined to be $768,900.  They also agreed to pay damages including medical expenses for the victim technicians.

The plea agreements resolve all the cases in Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Maine, and Mississippi. Judge Robart will consider all relevant conduct in determining the appropriate sentence.

Bank Robbery and Attempted Bank Robbery are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the Vancouver, Phoenix, and Houston offices of the FBI and state law enforcement, the Columbia River Organized Crime Task Force, and state law enforcement partners in Hillsboro Oregon, Battleground, Washington, and Jackson, Mississippi. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda McDowell, with assistance from the United States Attorney’s Offices in Phoenix and Houston.

Seattle – A 37-year-old man who was living in a Des Moines, Washington, hotel, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to six years in prison and three years of supervised release for drug and gun crimes, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Dennis Aguilar Huisa was arrested three times over 15 months for possession of fentanyl pills and/or powder, methamphetamine, cocaine, and a firearm. After the third arrest Huisa was federally indicted and has been in custody since November 1, 2024.

At today’s sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John C. Chun said fentanyl “is so dangerous and has destroyed so many lives…. He must have known that he was putting himself and his family at risk.”

According to records filed in the case, Puyallup Police first contacted Huisa on the side of the road in the early hours of August 15, 2023. Huisa said his car had overheated and he and a passenger were waiting for the engine to cool down. The police officer noticed that the license plate on the car did not match the type of vehicle listed in the registration. Huisa was removed from the car while law enforcement determined whether the car or the license plates were stolen. A second officer noticed blue pills in the car. Ultimately the car was impounded. A search revealed that there were about 1,000 fentanyl pills as well as some suspected fentanyl powder. There was also a scale with drug residue in the car.

On September 7, 2024, Puyallup Police responded to a report of a nine-month-old infant who had stopped breathing. Huisa and a woman met the officers outside a box truck the infant in their arms. Law enforcement worked to get the child to respond and breathe, Central Pierce Fire and Rescue responded and continued to work on providing aid to the child.

The law enforcement investigation found evidence that Huisa had given the infant two doses of Narcan suspecting that the child had been exposed to fentanyl or other drugs. Huisa gave permission to search the box truck. Law enforcement located approximately 115 blue fentanyl pills. On Huisa they found fentanyl powder and over $16,000 in cash.

The infant was taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. The child was given additional doses of Narcan, and the child’s blood tested positive for fentanyl, amphetamine, and oxycodone. The child survived.

Finally, on November 1, 2024, Auburn Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit served a search warrant on the Des Moines motel where Huisa had been living. In the hotel room they found small packages of fentanyl powder packaged for sale. Huisa had been attempting to flush it down the toilet when he heard law enforcement arrive. Officers found additional fentanyl powder, methamphetamine, and cocaine in other places around the room. Officers once again searched the box truck Huisa had been driving and found two kilograms of fentanyl powder and a Polymer 80 ‘ghost gun’ – a gun made without a serial number.

Huisa was charged by criminal complaint on March 12, 2025. He was indicted by the grand jury on March 26, 2025. On November 12, 2025, Huisa pleaded guilty to possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and money laundering. The financial investigation revealed that between July 2022 and September 2024, Huisa had made about $370,000 in cash deposits to his bank account – the proceeds of drug dealing.

Today, Huisa told the court he was “very ashamed and cannot forgive myself for what I have done to my daughter… I did not come here to deal drugs.”

In asking for an eight-and-a-half-year sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “Huisa was contacted by law enforcement on three different occasions and continued to engage in his drug trafficking activities, to the detriment of his infant daughter. Huisa appeared to be undeterred following the overdose of his child and continued to engage in the distribution of controlled substances.”

Huisa will likely be deported to Honduras following his prison sentence.

The case was investigated by the Puyallup Police Department, the Auburn Police Department, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Casey Conzatti.

Seattle – Law enforcement fanned out to some 17 locations in Washington, Oregon, and California, on Wednesday February 4, 2026, making 14 arrests following a wiretap investigation of a drug and gun trafficking organization affiliated with the Black Gangster Disciples street gang, announced First Assistant United States Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.  Lead defendant Kevin Salgado, 27, of Puyallup, Washington, is alleged to have led the group distributing counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax pills, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine. Some members of the drug trafficking group also conspired to possess firearms to further their drug distribution. Members of the group were heard on the wiretap talking about exchanging drugs for firearms.

“The defendants in this indictment allegedly engaged in a wide range of criminal conduct – pressing narcotic pills for distribution, trafficking firearms and switches to make them machine guns, using those guns to settle scores with rival gangsters,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Neil Floyd. “Ringleader Kevin Salgado allegedly distributed the pills he manufactured in western Washington and across the country through the mail. So far three overdose deaths have been connected to Salgado’s activity.”

“Together with our Homeland Security Task Force, we’ve struck a major blow against violent crime—dismantling a dangerous criminal enterprise and making our communities safer,” said Homeland Security Investigations Seattle acting Special Agent in Charge April Miller. “HSI is relentless in taking down transnational criminal organizations, seizing their drugs, removing their guns, cutting off their money, and bringing their members to justice. Protecting our neighborhoods from illicit activity remains our top priority.”

In addition to Salgado, these defendants are indicted in the case:

Haley Filler, 30, of Puyallup, Washington

Gabriel Tovar, 29, Puyallup, Washington

Kevin Andreas, 28, Puyallup, Washington

Joshua Bailey, 30, University Place, Washington

Tyson Latchie, 28, University Place, Washington

Kahlil Bland, 29, Tacoma

Ian Newman, 29, Yucaipa, California

Edgar Adrian Hernandez, 26, Yamhill, Oregon

Isaac Briones, 24, Sunnyside, Washington

Roman Jackson, 25, Lakewood, Washington

Geeneva Morandarte, 26, Lakewood, Washington

Christian Ericson, 26, Tacoma

Michelle Ford-Jackson, 50, Olympia, Washington

Each of the defendants had different involvement in the drug and gun conspiracy. For example, in March 2025, law enforcement executed a search warrant on the Auburn residence of Gabriel Tovar after seeing social media posts showing him holding high-powered firearms with extended magazines and machinegun conversion switches. Agents seized 11 firearms. Five of them were stolen. They also seized a total of 9 machinegun conversion devices.

Some of the defendants were involved in hacking into drug distribution companies and rerouting shipments of controlled substances so they could sell them on the streets. Searches of iCloud accounts and phones associated with members of the organization indicated Newman and Bland were diverting shipments to an address in Lynnwood, Washington, and later conspired to do the same in Florida.

And another of the defendants allegedly paid kickbacks to a pharmacist in Oregon for filling fake prescriptions for oxycodone and other narcotics. In June 2025, Isaac Briones was arrested in Davenport, Washington where he was picking up a fraudulent prescription of promethazine and codeine.

In all, up until the searches Wednesday, law enforcement seized 38 firearms (nine of which had machinegun conversion devices) and seven were stolen firearms. A lengthy list of narcotics has been recovered including more than four kilograms of methamphetamine, more than two kilos of Phenazepam and seven kilograms of counterfeit oxycodone pills.

On Wednesday alone law enforcement seized 39 firearms and more than 100 “Glock switches” – a part designed to turn a semi-automatic firearm into a machinegun. Law enforcement also seized approximately 887.9 grams of fentanyl pills; 924 grams of fentanyl powder, 355.3 grams of methamphetamine, 557.6 grams of cocaine; 3.5 kilograms of counterfeit oxycodone pills; 236.2 grams of oxycodone pills; and 268.8 grams of Xanax pills.

“DEA will aggressively target anyone who traffics drugs, diverts controlled substances, or uses guns to fuel criminal activity,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “This Tacoma street gang flooded our communities with fentanyl, meth, cocaine, and stolen prescription drugs while arming themselves with stolen firearms and Glock switches. DEA will continue working shoulder to shoulder with our federal, state, and local partners to dismantle violent drug trafficking organizations and hold those responsible accountable for the harm they inflict on our communities as we build a Fentanyl Free America and save American lives.”

“This operation and its results are a prime example of what’s possible when agencies collaborate,” said ATF Seattle Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Blais. “But this type of teamwork is not an anomaly. Every single day, ATF special agents and our law enforcement partners work tirelessly to prevent violent criminals from obtaining and using weapons that put lives at risk, and ATF will continue to work alongside our federal, state, and local partners to identify, investigate, and prosecute these offenders and their organizations.”

“Narcotics are destroying lives and devastating communities across the region. Every gram, every pill, and every sale of these drugs has the potential to ruin lives,” said Inspector in Charge Anthony Galetti, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Seattle Division. “Postal inspectors remain committed to working with our law enforcement partners to stop the flow of these deadly drugs through the mail and hold criminals who profit from poisoning our neighborhoods accountable.”

“It’s always a win to get illegal drugs and guns off our streets. Our friends and neighbors are safer today due to the extraordinary efforts of our agents and of our law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office. “We celebrate our success today, but we know that there’s much work to be done. Together, we are committed to making a continued difference by combatting drug trafficking and the violence that comes with it.”

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.

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. 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.

This investigation is being led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with key participation by United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agents and Diversion Investigators, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Tacoma Police Department (TPD), Seattle Police Department (SPD).

During the investigation special assistance was provided by Department of State (DoS) Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), United States Marshal Service (USMS), Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, Spokane Police Department (SPD), Centralia Police Department (CPD), Northwest HIDTA.

On the day search and arrest warrants were served, these additional agencies provided support: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), United States Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol (WSP), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), San Bernardino County, California, Probation Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Elyne Vaught and Michael Harder.

Tacoma – A 32-year-old La Center, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to ten years in prison and 15 years of supervised release for his scheme to access multiple teens’ private photos by posing as a Snapchat tech support person. Dylan Rex pleaded guilty in August 2025 to seven counts of Wire Fraud; seven counts of Computer Fraud; one count of Possession of Child Pornography; and one count of Attempted Enticement of a Minor. Rex was taken into custody at sentencing to being serving his prison term. Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo told him, “For three years, you were acting like a creature. In the end, your behavior caused unimaginable pain for the victims.”

“This defendant is the dangerous stranger lurking on the Internet that every parent fears,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “And he made the deception even worse by posing as tech support to get access to private images. I commend the cyber investigators at the FBI for bringing him to justice.”

“For several years, Mr. Rex deceived his victims by pretending to provide security for their social media accounts. Instead, he used his ill-gotten access to those accounts to steal their personal photos and videos, which he then circulated on the internet,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “Even worse, he offered payment to the mother of a child under the age of 10 to sexually abuse the minor child, film that abuse, and send him the imagery. When law enforcement searched Mr. Rex's residence, they uncovered media depicting the mother abusing her minor child along with hundreds of images of child sexual abuse material on multiple devices. He had gone on to distribute some of these images online, inflicting further damage on the victims each time he did. The FBI and our partners will continue to pursue child predators and those who victimize others through the internet so they can be held accountable for their harmful actions.”

According to records filed in the case, between July 2020 and March 2023, Rex defrauded over 170 victims of their private and intimate photos and videos stored in their Snapchat accounts. He would use false phone numbers and false email addresses that made it appear he was a member of the Snapchat tech support team. He would trigger a password reset message to the victim and then ask the victim to provide the six-digit code to assist them in getting back into their account. Once the victim gave up the code Rex locked them out of their account and stole the images he wanted. Many of the images and videos he stole he circulated on the internet, leading to harassment and extortion of the victims.

On March 29, 2023, law enforcement searched Rex’s residence and seized several digital devices. In all agents found more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material on eight different devices.

“What Dylan Rex did was calculated, cruel, and downright depraved. He impersonated a member of Snapchat’s customer support, targeted over 170 victims’ accounts across the country, and stole their photos which were later weaponized against them. To make matters worse, he possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material and even went as far as enticing a young mother into sexually abusing her own child, and documenting that abuse for his own sick gratification,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. “With today’s sentence, he’s been held accountable for his crimes, and will be locked away, where he can’t victimize anyone else.”

In asking for the ten-year sentence and 15 years of supervised release prosecutors wrote to the court, “Rex’s sole purpose of hacking into the victims’ Snapchat accounts was to hunt for intimate and sexually suggestive photographs and/or videos of young women that he would in turn share or trade on the internet. Although Rex may not have participated directly in the harassment and intimidation of these victims using their stolen imagery, he undoubtedly contributed to it. His actions created a living nightmare for many of these victims.”

The search of Rex’s devices led to one state court conviction as well.  On October 16, 2025, Rex was sentenced to 90 days in custody after pleading guilty to two counts of Voyeurism in Clark County Superior Court. In that case, Rex photographed and filmed victims, including minors, without their knowledge or consent. Rex used a recording device that he placed in a bathroom to capture these images.

The case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elyne M. Vaught.  

Seattle – A 67-year-old Skagit County, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to six months in federal prison for making Interstate threats against two different U.S Congressmen and their staffs, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. In March 2025, Bradley Whaley repeatedly called the offices of congresspeople in Washington DC, leaving threats on voicemail as well as directly with staffers. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead said, “Mr. Whaley made multiple threatening calls to offices of two U.S. Representatives…  This was part of a dangerous pattern that if left unchecked threatens the democratic process.”

According to records filed in the case in March 2025, Whaley made multiple calls to two different DC offices threatening to kill the congresspeople and their staff. Whaley referenced his second amendment rights and threatened to slit their throats. Whaley left his name and phone number in the voice messages.

Whaley was arrested on March 21, 2025, at the downtown Seattle location where he worked. In the center console of his vehicle was a loaded handgun.

Whaley pleaded guilty on October 31, 2025.

In asking for a one-year sentence, prosecutors noted the incredible increase in threats to members of congress writing, “… over the last several years, there has been an alarming surge in the number of similar threat cases against members of congress, their families, and staff.  The number of threat cases increased from 7,501 cases in 2022, to 8,008 cases in 2023, and to 9,747 cases in 2024, according to the United States Capitol Police. In 2025, the number of threat cases investigated by USCPS jumped to about 14,000.”

In his letter to the court, Brad Whaley blamed the threatening phone calls on heavy alcohol abuse. His attorney noted that Whaley has since completed treatment.

Judge Whitehead ordered that he complete three years of supervised release following the prison term.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel Yemini.

Seattle – A 44-year-old former Laguna Niguel, California resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 18 months in prison for wire fraud for his scheme to steal nearly $1 million from his employer, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Paul Joseph Welch was the IT manager of a Kent, Washington energy manufacturing company when he used various schemes to steal more than $950,000 from the company. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead said, “This was not a crime of desperation. You used the funds to support a lifestyle you could not afford.”

“Mr. Welch stole nearly $1 million from his company to pay for luxuries such as expensive hotel stays, first class airline tickets, and even a Porsche for his wife as a Mother’s Day gift,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “His theft caused the company to cut staff, reduce or cancel bonuses, and delay projects. These impacts justify this prison term.”

According to records in the case, Welch worked for the company from 2011 to 2024. He was promoted to Information Technology Manager in 2018. As early as 2017, Welch used the company’s Amazon business account to make unauthorized personal purchases from Amazon.com. Between 2017 and 2023, those purchases totaled at least $43,000. Welch primarily purchased electronics such as televisions, laptops and more—all for personal use. In 2019, Welch began using his company credit card for personal purchases through other online retailers such as Apple, Alaska Airlines, Instacart, and BestBuy. Between 2019 and 2024, those unauthorized personal purchases totaled at least an additional $60,000.

The scheme really accelerated in January 2021 when Welch began making payments to himself disguised as payments to a computer services company. Welch created a series of email addresses and payment processor accounts using a business name that was very similar to a legitimate computer services company based in Washington State. Welch then used the company credit cards to pay the computer services company under the guise that the company was providing IT equipment and services to the victim company.  However, the legitimate computer services company had no relationship with Welch and never provided any services or equipment to the victim company. The credit card payments Welch made went directly to the payment processor accounts that Welch controlled. Between 2021 and 2024 Welch used this scheme to transfer approximately $879,175 from company accounts to his own accounts.

The victim company tried to verify the legitimacy of Welch’s activity on multiple occasions, but each time, Welch provided false or misleading information to cover up his scheme. When Welch was asked to submit invoices to substantiate his charges, he emailed phony documents designed to look like invoices from the legitimate computer services company. At one point in 2023, an accounting employee at the victim company identified personal purchases on Welch’s company credit card. Welch claimed the charges were inadvertent and said he would repay the company. Welch never repaid the charges and continued to defraud the company through unauthorized personal purchases and more fake vendor charges.

On January 19, 2024, company employees confronted Welch about the charges from the computer services company accounts that Welch controlled. After Welch again claimed that the vendor was a real vendor for the company, the company fired him.

In all, between 2017 and January 2024 Welch secretly made at least 250 fraudulent charges for the third-party vendor he controlled. He made at least 140 unauthorized purchases with retailers using the company credit card and at least 100 fraudulent purchases on the company’s Amazon account. While Welch profited some $950,000 from his theft, the loss to the victim company was approximately $982,520 due to various fees on the transactions.

“As an information technology manager, Mr. Welch held a position of trust with his employer which allowed him access to business accounts and the company credit card," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. "Welch betrayed that trust by stealing almost $1 million from the company through years of fraudulent transactions for his own personal gain. Despite being confronted about his illicit expenditures multiple times, Welch disguised his schemes with false documents or by saying he didn’t intend to make the charges. When such theft occurs, the FBI diligently follows the money to ensure fraudsters are held accountable for their crimes.”

Welch agreed to make full restitution to the company.

The case was investigated by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dane A. Westermeyer.

Seattle – The first of some 20 defendants charged with trafficking narcotics in Seattle’s homeless encampments and International District was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 30 months in prison, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Theodore Nation, 36, has been in custody since January 2025. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tana Lin said, Nation had been dealing “to particularly vulnerable and marginalized members of the community.”

“This drug trafficking organization sold addictive substances to some of the most marginalized members of our community – those living in homeless encampments such as “The Jungle” under Interstate 5,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “This defendant made his living feeding the addiction of others making it ever more difficult for them to get out of the danger of homeless encampments.”

“As a redistributor, Mr. Nation had a significant role in the Jungle Drug Trafficking Organization which sold dangerous drugs in the homeless encampments near the International District and I-5," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “This organization and others like it fuel the fentanyl crisis in the United States with drugs that all too often prove fatal. FBI Seattle remains committed to working with our partners to combat drug trafficking and violent crime in Seattle and across the state of Washington.”

“In Seattle, our fight for a Fentanyl Free America is not abstract — it’s on the streets,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “The fentanyl powder alone seized from this group contained more than 1.7 million potentially lethal doses.  Mr. Nation trafficked fentanyl and other deadly drugs in and around our homeless encampments and preyed on the most vulnerable in our community. The DEA, alongside our federal and local partners, is committed to using every enforcement tool at our disposal to shut down fentanyl supply chains, protect public safety, and save lives in Seattle and across the nation.”

According to records filed in the case, the investigation began in November 2023, with the Seattle Police, FBI, and DEA focusing on a drug trafficking organization dealing fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in the homeless encampments of Seattle and in drug trafficking areas of the International District at locations such as 12th and Jackson. In the first round of arrests and indictments in January 2025, some of the defendants were arrested with firearms. Using a court authorized wiretap, investigators gathered evidence of the drug trafficking and made arrests and seizures over the course of the investigation. Law enforcement heard intimations of violence on the calls and worked to intervene without tipping off the targets of the investigation.

During the January arrest operation, law enforcement seized 17 firearms and 23 kilos of suspected fentanyl powder.

A second round of indictments and arrests occurred in late May 2025. In this part of the investigation, in March 2025 alone, law enforcement seized 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 111 kilos of cocaine, 19 kilos of fentanyl powder, 250,000 fentanyl pills, and four kilos of heroin. The street value of the narcotics was nearly $3 million.

In their sentencing memo asking for a 57-month sentence for Nation prosecutors noted the deadly toll of fentanyl. “According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, 167 people died of fentanyl-involved overdoses in King County in 2020. By 2023, the number of fentanyl-involved overdoses in King County rose to 1,086.2 Although the number of fentanyl-involved overdoses peaked in 2023 in King County, in 2024 there were still 788 fentanyl-involved overdoses and in 2025 there were still 696 fentanyl-involved overdoses.”

The investigation was led by the FBI, Seattle Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with significant assistance from the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). Investigators also worked with the King County Sheriff’s Office and the Tukwila Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Casey Conzatti and Brian Wynne.

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. 

Seattle – A 29-year-old Deering, Alaska man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 18 months in prison for abusive sexual contact on board an aircraft, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Trayton C. Ballot was arrested on January 15, 2025, when the Alaska Airlines flight he was on arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International airport. Ballot was convicted by a jury on September 10, 2025, following a two-day trial.  At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John H. Chun said, “This is a serious and scary crime with lasting consequences for the victim.”

“The Western District of Washington has received a significant number of reported sexual assaults on aircraft in the last several years,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “This sentence should serve as a warning to others who think they can take advantage of a plane’s environment to abuse vulnerable victims. We will take these cases, and take them to trial if necessary, to get justice for victims.”

According to records filed in the case, the 17-year-old victim was flying with her mother and a friend on an overnight flight from Anchorage to Seattle. Ballot was seated in the middle seat in a row near the back of the plane. The victim was in the window seat. Ballot appeared to be asleep but then moved his hand onto the victim’s inner thigh and began rubbing her thigh. The victim, who was asleep, woke up to the touching and removed Ballot’s hand. Two more times Ballot moved his hand onto the 17-year-old’s inner thigh, and she removed his hand. After the third time, the victim lowered her tray table and wedged a stuffed animal under it to protect her lap. Despite those barriers, Ballot moved his hand under the armrest and attempted to place it over the victim’s thigh. The victim pressed down on the stuffed animal to stop the assault and Ballot took his hand away.

The victim typed into her phone that the man seated next to her had touched her and showed the message to her mother who was seated in the row behind her. At her mother’s instruction, the victim notified the flight attendants who moved her to a different seat.

Ballot was arrested when the plane arrived in Seattle.

Speaking in court today, the victim said she was “trapped in a small place where I could not defend myself…. It was predatory – attacking me while I was asleep.”

In asking for a two-year prison sentence prosecutors noted that the unique qualities of air travel require additional vigilance, and a deterrence message. “Sexual assaults on airplanes are a distressingly prevalent risk of modern airline travel…. In several ways, a plane is a uniquely vulnerable environment: passengers are often seated in close proximity to strangers, with little room and few options for removing themselves from unwanted situations; passengers regularly attempt to sleep on planes while sitting next to unknown persons; and outside of a passenger’s immediate neighbors, there is limited visibility and a low likelihood of witnesses, particularly when cabin lights are dimmed.”

Judge Chun ordered Ballot to complete 10 years of supervised release following prison.

“I commend the bravery displayed by this underage victim, and her mother, in speaking up for her safety by reporting this crime to the flight crew," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. "Sexual misconduct aboard aircraft is a federal crime, one the FBI investigates and takes seriously. We encourage victims and witnesses to report such crimes to the flight crew; Port of Seattle Police or your local airport police; and the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or tips.fbi.gov.”

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Port of Seattle Police.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Carolyn Forstein and Cindy Chang.

Seattle – One of the leaders of an armed robbery crew that carried out a series of home invasion robberies in 2022, today pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.  Christopher Johnson, 24, faces up to life in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lauren King on May 6, 2026. Under the terms of the plea agreement, both the prosecution and defense will recommend a 25-year prison term.

According to the plea agreement, Johnson admits he was involved in a pattern of violent crimes allegedly committed by codefendant Kevin Thissel, 29, and their co-conspirators. The plea agreement describes how in the summer of 2022, the men targeted certain families for robberies. To create a climate of fear, the robbery crew burst into homes in the middle of the night, dressed in black, claiming to be police, and with guns drawn. They wore masks and used zip-ties to restrain the victims – including children as young as nine. They would steal any valuables they could ransack from these homes. Tragically, they shot and killed one young mother as her 7-year-old child lay next to her in bed.

Each member of the robbery crew had a certain job: identifying potential victims based on social media posts about their wealth or collections; surveilling the target homes; serving as a driver; kicking in the door; corralling the family; holding the victims at gunpoint; and ransacking the homes for valuables. Some of those participating in this violent robbery scheme were juveniles.

The crimes admitted in the Johnson plea agreement include:

• May 24, 2022, the armed robbery of a family in Mount Vernon, Washington.
• May 24, 2022, the kidnapping of a young boy in connection with the Mount Vernon robbery.
• May 24, 2022, attempted robbery on Mercer Island – one robber fired a gun but did not hit one of three victims inside the house.
• May 27, 2022, burglary of an unoccupied Kent, Washington residence.
• June 19, 2022, the attempted burglary of an occupied residence in Kent. One of the residents fired at the robbery crew causing them to flee
• July 14, 2022, the armed robbery of a couple in Burien, Washington.
• July 28, 2022, the armed robbery of a woman in Kent, Washington.
• July 28,2022, the abduction of the victim in the Kent robbery to force her to obtain cash from ATMs.
• August 12, 2022, the robbery of two Kent residents who were locked in a closet while their home was ransacked.
• August 19, 2022, the Everett armed robbery of a couple and their child.
• August 19, 2022, the murder of one of the Everett robbery victims.

Some of the criminal acts described in the plea agreement have not been formally charged. They can be considered by the judge in determining the sentence and for purposes of restitution.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Johnson will plead guilty to second degree murder in Snohomish County Superior Court for the August 19, 2022, fatal shooting of Irah Marcello Sok. Both sides will also recommend a 25-year sentence to run concurrent with the federal sentence. Johnson is asking that the judge recommend he serve his sentence in the Washington State Prison system. However, Judge King can decide whether or not to make that recommendation.

The case is being investigated by the FBI with significant assistance from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, the Mount Vernon Police Department, the Kent Police Department, and the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Todd Greenberg and Brian Wynne are prosecuting the case. Former Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen Hobbs and Michael Lang worked closely with the Snohomish County Prosecutors Office on investigating and charging this case. 

Seattle – A 36-year-old former anesthesiology resident at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Harborview and University of Washington Medical Centers was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to one year of supervised release including 200 hours of community service for diverting narcotic pain medication to his own use while treating patients, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Andrew Voegel-Podadera, of Seattle, was arrested in June 2025 and charged with obtaining controlled substances by fraud. Voegel-Podadera pleaded guilty in October 2025, admitting he secretly took fentanyl, hydromorphone, and other medications over the course of a year while working in the UW Medicine system. He sometimes used the diverted substances while still at the hospital, meaning he was under the influence of potent narcotics while treating patients.

At today’s sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson said, “This was a serious offense… the consequences of which could have been more serious and tragic.”

“This defendant was entrusted with caring for patients, including young and vulnerable patients,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “It is chilling to think that he took powerful narcotics while a tiny baby needed his full and unimpaired attention. This case should serve as a message that nobody is above the law and healthcare professionals will be held accountable when they divert narcotics and put patients in harm’s way.” 

According to records filed in the case, between 2022 and 2024, Voegel-Podadera worked as a resident anesthesiologist. He did rotations at Seattle Children’s Hospital, Harborview Medical Center, and the UW Medical Center. On December 27, 2024, Voegel-Podadera saw three patients at Children’s – the youngest was just 11-days old. From the beginning of his shift, Voegel-Podadera began stealing and using pain medications that were meant for patients. He consumed fentanyl and hydromorphone and then returned the vials to the pharmacy with saline in them, claiming it was “wastage.”

Fortunately, the attending physician found his behavior odd and reported it to others at Children’s. Ultimately, Voegel-Podadera admitted stealing and taking drugs while on duty as far back as January 2024.

In asking that Voegel-Podadera do prison time, prosecutors wrote to the court, “Anesthesiologists administer precise doses of potent medications and perform delicate procedures like intubations…. Voegel-Podadera’s behavior put [his patients] at risk. An intoxicated doctor is far more likely to make mistakes, and mistakes in this setting can be costly.”

“Dr. Voegel-Podadera selfishly diverted powerful pain medication away from patients, including young children and infants, while he worked as an anesthesiologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “Dr. Voegel-Podadera violated both his oath and the law. We are proud that DEA and our partners could stop him from endangering young patients. DEA remains unwavering in our commitment to saving American lives.”

“The diversion of controlled substances by medical professionals is a serious breach of public trust and patient safety,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Iwanicki, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Los Angeles Field Office. “The defendant’s actions not only violated federal law but also placed vulnerable pediatric patients at risk. The FDA is committed to protecting the integrity of our healthcare system and ensuring that patients receive the safe and effective medications they deserve.”

Voegel-Podadera’s attorney said the consequences for the former physician have been significant: he was terminated from the anesthesiology training program, had to surrender his DEA registration that allowed him to prescribe medications, and has had his medical license surrendered for at least five years.

Speaking to the court Voegel-Podadera said he wished he had sought help for his addiction earlier. He has been speaking to groups of medical residents about the danger of addiction.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Food and Drug Administration - Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI).

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Philip Kopczynski and Amanda McDowell.

Tacoma – A 38-year-old Grays Harbor County, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to ten years in prison for two counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Gabriel Armas was on federal supervised release for a prior conviction for heroin and methamphetamine trafficking when he was arrested for again distributing narcotics. After he was incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, he again distributed heroin, resulting in the overdose death of another inmate. At the sentencing hearing today U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said, “There can hardly be any offenses more serious than one that resulted in the death of (the victim), which happened here. And it happened in what was supposed to be a safe environment. The FDC is supposed to be safe, but it wasn’t safe for (the victim) because you made the decision to introduce drugs into this environment and as a result someone who was loved by his family died.”

“A federal arrest and incarceration can be the first step towards getting clean and sober, but not when other inmates scheme to deal drugs while imprisoned,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “In this case a family was touched by tragedy when their son died of an overdose caused by this defendant. It is a priority for our office to prosecute cases of contraband in jails and prisons.”

According to records in the case, on November 14, 2023, Armas was found slumped over the wheel of a car in a parking lot in Ocean Shores, Washington. When an officer knocked on the window, Armas drove away at a high rate of speed. Law enforcement stopped the pursuit due to Armas’ reckless driving.

The car Armas was driving got stuck on a bridge that had not been designed for vehicle traffic and the bridge collapsed. Armas left the area, but a drug detecting dog found things he had abandoned in the area such as baggies containing fentanyl pills, fentanyl powder, and crystal methamphetamine. They also found identity cards in Armas’ name.

A few days later, Armas was found in the area where the car was abandoned and was booked into the Federal Detention Center. Initially he was booked for violating conditions of his federal supervision for a 2014 drug trafficking conviction. Armas was housed in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) on the night of November 19, 2023. On the morning of November 20, 2023, the person sharing the cell with Armas was found unresponsive and died despite lifesaving efforts. An autopsy revealed the man died from acute heroin, olanzapine, and mirtazapine intoxication.

On November 23, 2023, authorities found heroin hidden in Armas’ cell. It was wrapped in a jailhouse note offering heroin for sale to inmates. A few weeks later more heroin was found in the top of a pill bottle in Armas’ cell. On January 25, 2024, Armas admitted to another inmate that he made money selling heroin to other inmates and that his cellmate overdosed and died from the heroin. Armas said he swallowed some of the heroin to hide it from staff after his cellmate’s overdose.

“In the space of just over a week, Mr. Armas’s series of reckless actions contributed to his cellmate’s overdose death; endangered the community by fleeing law enforcement at high speed; and collapsed a bridge not designed for vehicles during that pursuit,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “He has clearly not learned his lesson from his last drug trafficking conviction, as he was also found to have fentanyl and heroin in his vehicle and prison cell. This sentence holds Mr. Armas accountable for his dangerous conduct and sends a message to all would-be drug traffickers: the FBI and our partners take these crimes seriously.”

In asking for a ten-year sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “By selling drugs in the FDC, Armas demonstrated a complete disregard for the safety of other incarcerated individuals, many of whom have significant addiction issues that have contributed to their being detained. By aiming to provide drugs to other inmates, Armas took advantage of a captive clientele of drug users, many of whom were likely in the process of withdrawal due to their incarceration, rendering them more vulnerable to the harmful effects of opioids.”

Armas was ordered to be on supervised release for eight years following prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Ocean Shores Police Department and Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Max Shiner.

Seattle – A 25-year-old Seattle man was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Seattle for multiple counts of carjacking and using a firearm in a crime of violence, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Maar Teng Rambang was convicted of three counts of carjacking and three counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence for the November 7, 2022, King County-wide crime spree. The jury deliberated about an hour following a four-day jury trial. U.S. District Judge John C. Chun will schedule sentencing at a future date.

According to records filed in the case, the carjacking spree stretched from Kent, to Bellevue, to Redmond, to Seattle and ultimately back to Renton. Just before noon on November 7, 2022, Rambang confronted a woman sitting in her car outside the Kent East Hill Post Office. Rambang ordered the woman out of her car at gunpoint. Rambang drove the stolen car to the Bellevue Square Mall garage and fired his gun as he threatened another woman and demanded her vehicle. He drove that stolen BMW to Redmond and attempted to rob Amazon employees working at a delivery locker at a Whole Foods Market. Rambang then drove the BMW to the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle where he shot a man in the leg and stole his Jeep SUV.

Officers tracked the Jeep to Kent and attempted to stop and arrest Rambang, but he fled at speeds of 90-100 miles per hour in areas of heavy traffic.  Rambang drove in center turn lanes, through gas station parking lots and ran red lights. Ultimately, law enforcement in Renton was able to block the car and arrest Rambang.

In closing arguments Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg said, “The victims were everyday people trying to do everyday things…. The defendant’s crime spree turned these everyday things into nightmares for the victims.”

Carjacking is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Using a firearm in connection with a crime of violence is punishable by a mandatory minimum ten years in prison and up to life in prison.

The case was investigated by the Kent, Bellevue, Redmond, and Seattle Police Departments with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco & Explosives (ATF).

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Todd Greenberg and Rachel Yemini.

Seattle –A Tacoma man who continued to distribute large amounts of fentanyl pills even after being found with a large load of methamphetamine was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 66 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Rogelio Pena, 22, is one of thirteen people who was indicted in the case in May 2024. The 18-month wiretap investigation revealed that Pena was a trusted member of the conspiracy both for delivering drugs and for having access to the group’s stash house. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson said, “This was a lot of drugs and a large conspiracy… The impact on the community is significant.”

“Whether riding with 28-pound load of methamphetamine, or attempting to deliver 20,000 fentanyl pills, this defendant did not let intervention by law enforcement stop him,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Those who deliver these poisons to our communities face significant time in prison.”

In the wiretap investigation law enforcement seized approximately 81 kilograms of methamphetamine, 49 kilograms of fentanyl pills, and 15 kilograms of cocaine. On June 28, 2023, Pena was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by law enforcement that contained more than 25

 pounds of methamphetamine. But even after this traffic stop, Pena was heard on the wiretap arranging the delivery of 20,000 fentanyl pills. Pena was so trusted by the drug trafficking organization that he managed the possession of keys to the storage area where the group kept its drug supply.

As more rental cars were stopped with drug loads on the way north, conspirators began bringing drugs to the Seattle area via bus. On April 11, 2024, the Portland Police Department seized 7.5 kilograms of fentanyl laced pills from a bag that had been abandoned at a bus station by one of the coconspirators. In early May 2024 law enforcement moved in and made arrests.

In asking for a 66-month sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “Pena, along with his co-conspirators, were responsible for flooding these highly dangerous and addictive substances into the community for profit and contributed to the addiction of an unknown number of individuals. The drugs that Pena was peddling caused irreparable harm to the community in general as well as to the families whose members are addicted to controlled substances. During 2023, when Pena was actively engaged in drug trafficking, there was an overwhelming 1,340 fatal overdose deaths in King County alone.”

“This drug trafficking organization flooded the Pacific Northwest with fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “The fentanyl alone seized in this case contained enough lethal doses to kill more than 200,000 people in Western Washington. The Drug Enforcement Administration is thankful to our Federal, state, and local partners who worked with us tirelessly on this case to help save American lives as we work together to make America Fentanyl Free.”

“Pena and his co-conspirators were caught trafficking kilogram quantities of illegal drugs into Washington state on multiple occasions in 2023 and 2024," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. "Today’s sentence holds Mr. Pena accountable for his role in this conspiracy that threatened our communities with dangerous drugs and high-powered firearms. FBI Seattle is grateful for the many federal, state, and local partners, including those in other states, who work with us to protect the people of the Pacific Northwest.”

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.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Seattle Police Department, Oregon State Police, Portland Police Department, California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Strike Force, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Centralia Police Department.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Casey Conzatti and Elyne Vaught.

Tacoma –A 20-year-old member of the Makah Tribe was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to two years in prison for assaulting an intimate partner with a knife, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Peyton Blaise Watson stabbed his intimate partner in the neck while on property within the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright said, the assault was “violent and extremely dangerous…” The victim “was stabbed in the neck in a fit of rage that was uncontrolled. It was not due to care or avoidance of more serious injury, but really only a matter of luck that we are not here today on a much more serious charge.”

“This case exemplifies our commitment to addressing crime on tribal lands – especially violent crime against vulnerable victims,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “This was a shocking and unprovoked assault that easily could have been fatal. A term of incarceration will serve to protect the public and the victim. I hope that time in custody will give Watson an opportunity to reform his behavior.”

According to records filed in the case, in the early morning hours of May 9, 2025, Lower Elwha Police and Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a home on the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation where a witness called 911 to report that Watson had stabbed an adult female victim in the neck. Officers found the victim standing a few feet from Watson. Once Watson was removed from the victim’s presence, she began crying and identified Watson as her assailant and that he had stabbed her in the neck. The victim was taken by ambulance to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles where she required surgery. Watson was booked into the Clallam County Jail on tribal charges. He has been in custody since the assault.

The FBI joined the investigation and secured items of evidence from the scene including a black folding knife about three inches long, an item identified by the victim and witness as the weapon.

The victim was hospitalized for five days as she recovered from her injuries. At the hospital she was able to describe for investigators how Watson attacked her and allegedly threatened to kill her.

In asking for a sentence at the low end of the sentencing guidelines range, prosecutors wrote to the court, “Crafting a sentencing recommendation in this case is difficult, because Watson easily could have killed [the victim] when he stabbed her in the neck with a deadly weapon. However, this appears to be an isolated incident of extreme violence. Prior to nearly killing [the victim], Watson was not known to be violent. Moreover, at the time of the offense he was (and is) quite young and had no criminal history.”

Watson will be on three years of federal supervision including mental health monitoring and drug treatment following his prison term.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Lower Elwha Klallam Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Celia Lee. Ms. Lee serves as a Tribal Liaison for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington. 

Seattle – A 40-year-old Everett, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to six years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Lamin Saho, aka “Buck,” was a significant fentanyl dealer identified in a wiretap investigation that culminated with fourteen arrests in October 2024 and five additional arrests in late 2025. The drug trafficking ring operated from Kent to Everett and members of the ring frequented two distribution locations in the University District of Seattle. Many of the drug traffickers were armed when guarding their stash or distributing their drugs. The leader of the drug crew was gunned down in the summer of 2024, in front of one of the U District locations. At the sentencing hearing Judge John H. Chun said, “Fentanyl is a dangerous drug that has devastated far too many lives. One has only to walk out on the streets of Seattle to see how it has devastated our community.”

“Mr. Saho distributed thousands of fentanyl pills – the calls recorded on the wiretap indicated he had access to as many as 10,000 pills at a time,” said U.S. Attorney Floyd. “Each one of those pills had the potential of killing the user. Our community is safer when we are able to prosecute these drug trafficking rings and get the suppliers behind bars.”

“Homeland Security Investigations, working closely with our law enforcement partners, led the investigation that brought Saho to justice and indictments for 18 others,” said HSI Seattle acting Special Agent in Charge April Miller. “Together, we are combatting the lethal effects of fentanyl in our communities by identifying, disrupting, and dismantling dangerous networks. Garnering this sentence for one of the defendants in this case shows our commitment to protecting the public and fighting violent crime at every level.”

“Drug trafficking and gun violence go hand in hand, and this case highlights the unfortunate reality, peddling deadly fentanyl and weapons in Seattle’s University District posed a clear and present danger to the entire community,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “The collaborative efforts of our federal prosecutors along with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners resulted in the dismantlement of this drug trafficking organization and brought us one step closer towards making America Fentanyl Free. DEA is committed to protect the United States from synthetic opioids by disrupting the fentanyl supply chain, reducing its availability, and saving American lives.”

The month-long telephone intercepts of Saho’s phone revealed he was one of the most prolific distributors of fentanyl within the drug trafficking group. Even after law enforcement seized 5,000 pills from Saho in a traffic stop, wiretap intercepts show he was wholly undeterred and continued to traffic fentanyl through the end of the interception period.

In the yearlong investigation, law enforcement seized 200,000 fentanyl pills, four kilograms of cocaine, 60

 firearms, several Glock “switches,” multiple suppressors, and $250,000 in cash drug trafficking proceeds.

Members of the drug ring have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from four years to ten years.

Cooper Sherman, aka “Coop,” 28, of Seattle, who was a leader in the organization, was sentenced in November 2025 to ten years in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Khaliil Ahmed, aka “Bossup,” 28, of Kent was sentenced in August 2025 to six years in prison for two counts of illegally possessing firearms. He was identified as a member of a drug trafficking conspiracy. He was injured in a fatal hookah bar shooting in South Seattle on August 20, 2023.

Yohannes Wondimagegnehu, aka “Jon,” 36, of Seattle was sentenced in August 2025 to six years in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He helped staff an apartment on the edge of Seattle’s University District that was a known drug distribution location.

Dominique Sanders, 35, of Everett, who served as a redistributor in the organization, was sentenced in September 2025 to six years in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

Jaquan Means, 46, of Bellevue, who brokered at least two fentanyl transactions, was sentenced in December 2025 to six years in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

Oche Poston, 32, of Everett, who served as a runner for several fentanyl transactions and conducted other drug trafficking related activities at the direction of leaders within the organization, was sentenced in September 2025 to five and a half years in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

Patrick Smith, 28, of Seattle, who served as a redistributor in the organization, was sentenced in August 2025 to four years in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

Anteneh Tesfaye, 41, of Edmonds was sentenced in December 2025 to four years in prison for one count of illegally possessing a firearm. He was a drug redistributor who was supplied by one of the leaders of the drug trafficking organization.

At today’s sentencing Lamin Saho was ordered to serve four years of supervised release following his six-year prison term. However, he is a citizen of The Gambia who does not have immigration status in the U.S. and will likely be removed following his prison term.

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.

This investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with significant participation by Seattle Police Department (SPD), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Washington State Patrol (WSP), FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, U.S. Border Patrol, the King County Sheriff’s Office, the Bellevue Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), Everett Police Department, Renton Police Department, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Washington State National Guard, Washington State Gambling Commission, Yakima County Law Enforcement Against Drugs (L.E.A.D) Narcotics and Gang Task Force, and Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA).

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michelle Jensen and Joseph Silvio.

Seattle – Today the Western District of Washington observes National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and joins the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) in reaffirming the administration’s commitment to combating all forms of human trafficking and protecting victims and survivors. Human Trafficking Prevention Month presents an opportunity for DHS and DOJ, through Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTF) to intensify operational efforts, raise public awareness, and strengthen partnerships across federal, state, and local agencies to disrupt trafficking networks, protect vulnerable individuals, and ensure traffickers are brought to justice.

“This Department of Justice is working tirelessly alongside our partners to dismantle human trafficking networks, help survivors, and protect vulnerable populations from being exploited,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Under this administration we have seen an increase in human trafficking prosecutions, and during Human Trafficking Prevention Month we reaffirm our commitment to prosecuting traffickers and encourage Americans to report instances of human trafficking in their communities.”

“Through the Homeland Security Task Force, President Trump is taking the fight directly to human trafficking networks and disrupting their modern-day slave trade while seizing their assets and arresting their kingpins and foot soldiers. The American people should not have to live in fear of cartels, gang bangers, and foreign terrorists preying upon the most vulnerable among us,” the United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement. “The Homeland Security Task Force is the largest coordinated campaign against transnational criminal organizations in U.S. history, and I’m proud to co-lead it with Attorney General Bondi.”

“During Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the FBI reiterates our work with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and national victim-based advocacy groups in joint task forces to protect our communities across the country,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The horrifying reach of human trafficking spreads far and wide. Homeland Security Task Forces are fighting back to disrupt these perilous networks and put a stop to that reach. The FBI will continue our investigations and bring justice to those exploited by human traffickers.”

“Western Washington is a leader in fighting human trafficking with dedicated, experienced prosecutors and a collaborative law enforcement team of state, local and federal partners,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “We welcome the added resources of the Homeland Security Task Forces to augment our work in these areas.”

In January 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. Section 6 of this order directed the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to jointly establish HSTFs in every state nationwide. The HSTF objective is to end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) throughout the United States; dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks; end the scourge of human smuggling and trafficking, with a particular focus on such offenses involving children; and ensure the use of all available law enforcement tools to faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States.

Since January 20, 2025, the Western District of Washington has:

• Indicted a violent sex trafficker and acknowledged street gang leader, who posed with guns on social media and trafficked women on north Aurora Avenue and other states.
• Prosecuted a violent sex trafficker who was sentenced to 15 years in prison
• Indicted a 37-year-old Seattle man for sex trafficking through force. fraud and coercion.
• Sentenced a Washington State man to 11 years in prison for trafficking young women including a teen-ager.
• Prosecuted a landscaping company owner who paid to smuggle a Mexican woman to Washington and assaulted her and forced her to do hard labor for no pay. He is scheduled for sentencing in March.

In January 2026, DHS and DOJ are surging resources to fight and raise awareness about human trafficking, including:

• Identifying ongoing investigations and prioritizing featured operations across 45 federal locations and 10 state locations with an emphasis on border states.
• Coordinating with FBI Human Trafficking Squads and multi-agency Human Trafficking Task Forces to conduct victim recovery.
• Partnering with AMTRAK and FAMS to increase law enforcement resources and distribute posters with QR codes for reporting human trafficking in all station bathrooms and trains.
• Running advertisements related to $250 million recovery from Backpage to distribute to victims and additional victim restitution efforts by DOL-OIG.
• Organizing Human Trafficking seminars and outreach events with DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking at high schools and colleges to highlight the role of HSTFs in addressing human trafficking.

On August 25, 2025, HSTF officially launched its effort to protect the Homeland with a September Surge encompassing 400 operations nationwide. In just 43 days, HSTF nationwide operations resulted in 3,266 arrests and seizures including:

• 1,041 Sinaloa members,
• 856 Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (“CJNG”) members,
• 641 MS-13 members,
• 456 Tren de Aragua members,
• 1,067 weapons
• More than $3,250,000 in currency
• Approximately 91 metric tons of narcotics

Seattle – A 26-year-old Seattle man was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 27 months in prison for possession of a machine gun, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Andre Justice Atwater was taken into custody in June 2024, following the BB-gun shooting of two men in the parking lot of his International District apartment. Atwater was identified as the shooter, and when Seattle Police searched his apartment, they found more than 25 guns – 20 of them privately manufactured ‘ghost guns,’ and 103 ‘Glock switches’ devices that turn a semi-automatic Glock handgun into an automatic fire machine gun.

“This is a very serious offense,” said U.S. District Judge James L. Robart. “(The most common illegal use for) 3D printers is for coming up with illegal firearms.”

According to records filed in the case, when law enforcement searched Atwater’s apartment, they found one of the bedrooms had been turned 

into a workshop for the production of firearms. Atwater had a 3D printer and gunsmith tools. In a gun safe they found 25 firearms, 20 of them unregistered homemade ‘ghost guns.’ Three of the Glock switch devices had been filed down for installation into a firearm. Atwater also possessed two silencers. Unregistered silencers and unregistered machine guns are illegal to possess under federal law.  The 103 Glock switches seized in the apartment is the largest seizure of Glock switches in the Western District of Washington.

In asking for a three-year prison term Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg wrote to the court, “…(T)he sheer volume of firearms Atwater possessed (and likely manufactured himself), and the large quantity of 103 machinegun conversion devices, is consistent with his present and/or future intent to sell the firearms and Glock switches. But for the fortuitous law enforcement intervention, Atwater had the potential to supply the streets of Seattle with dangerous firearms and machinegun devices – all or most of which would have inevitably ended up in the hands of dangerous individuals.”

Judge Robart ordered that Atwater be on supervised release for three years following prison. Atwater was sentenced in King County Superior Court to nine months in prison for the BB-gun assaults.

The case was investigated by the Seattle Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg.  

Seattle – A 32-year-old Bellingham woman appeared late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle after being extradited from Panama where she had illegally traveled with her 4-year-old son, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Talisa Manuella Munoz, failed to return the boy to his father as required by the final parenting plan. She secretly flew to Panama after using false documents to get the child a passport. Magistrate Judge Kate Vaughan ordered Munoz detained pending trial. The judge found that Munoz was a flight risk due to the extensive planning and misrepresentation that the defendant engaged in to secrete the child and take him to Panama.

According to the criminal complaint, Munoz, was supposed to return the child to his father on September 8, 2025, following a weekend visitation. When the child was not returned, the father reported to law enforcement and the FBI opened an investigation.

Law enforcement determined that months before leaving, Munoz, had falsely claimed on her son’s passport application that she had no way to find or know the father. She submitted a birth certificate that said “none named” where the father’s name should be. The investigation revealed that Talisa Manuella Munoz schemed with her family for months to take the child to Panama and flew out of Seattle on or about September 7, 2025.

The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) and the U.S. Embassy in Panama City worked with law enforcement in Panama to arrest and secure the extradition of Talisa Manuella Munoz. She was returned to the Western District of Washington on January 8, 2026. Her young son was reunited with his father.

International Parental Kidnapping is punishable by a maximum of three years in prison. False statement in an application for a passport is punishable by a maximum of fifteen years in prison.

The charges contained in the criminal complaint 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 case is being investigated by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson.

Seattle – A 25-year-old Federal Way, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to eight years in prison for using a firearm in a crime of violence, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Daniel Lopez was indicted by the grand jury on November 6, 2024, for the October 13, 2024, kidnapping of the spouse of someone who had cheated him in a drug deal. The Auburn, Washington woman was abducted at gunpoint from her home and ultimately was found safe in Guatemala. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said, the sentence was merited because of “the defendant’s use of a firearm in a violent kidnapping . . . and the violent nature of the charged conduct.”

“This defendant has a lengthy and serious criminal history with many of the offenses involving firearms,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Mr. Lopez has been involved in street gangs since his mid-teens and has committed several violent offenses including robbery, drive-by shooting and illegal possession of guns and drugs. This 8-year prison sentence is focused on protecting the community.”

“After losing money in a fraudulent drug deal, Lopez retaliated by violently kidnapping a person involved in the scheme, along with an innocent victim, at gunpoint,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “He held the victims against their will, directed co-conspirators to force them across the Mexico border, and fled to Texas where he was apprehended by FBI Houston. FBI Seattle is grateful to our partners in the Auburn Police Department and our FBI colleagues in Texas for their commitment to combatting violent crime alongside us, no matter how far the subject attempts to flee justice.”

According to records filed in the case, the kidnapping was retribution for a drug deal gone bad. The woman’s husband and a second victim who was also kidnapped, had taken $2500 from Lopez for cocaine, but the cocaine was never delivered. The female victim’s husband reported her missing on October 14, 2024, after arriving home and finding her belongings at their apartment. Two witnesses reported seeing the woman leaving with two men, one of whom was carrying a firearm. This man was subsequently identified as Lopez. Lopez was initially identified based on surveillance video from across the street showing vehicles in the apartment complex parking lot.  Officers then reviewed traffic camera pictures to obtain license plate information and ultimately determined Lopez was a registered owner of one of the vehicles.

The investigation revealed that the victims were held in the Seattle area for two days before being transported to the southern border with Mexico. Lopez had associates drive the woman and the other victim to the border and forced them to walk across. The two were identified by immigration authorities in Mexico and were transported to Guatemala. Neither had legal status in the U.S., and so have been barred from returning to their lives in the U.S.

Lopez was ultimately traced to Houston, Texas and was arrested on October 19, 2024, at a hotel. He has remained in custody since his arrest.

The case was investigated by the Auburn Police Department and the FBI.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg.

Seattle – Four people are charged federally for a drug trafficking conspiracy involving more than 20 pounds of cocaine, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Lead defendant, Luis Donaldo Galeana Garcia, 29, a Mexican citizen residing in Marysville, was ordered detained late yesterday when the magistrate judge found him both a flight risk and a danger to the community.

The defendants in this case were identified last summer as possible members of a drug trafficking conspiracy. Initially, HSI agents identified Galeana Garcia as a major drug distributor in the western region of Washington State.  By late September 2025, law enforcement obtained information pertaining to Galeana Garcia’s intentions of exchanging approximately 20 pounds of cocaine for 15 pounds of methamphetamine and $155,000.  Three others were involved in the drug exchange: Juan Carlos Garnica Pacheco, 33, of Everett, Lorena Esquivel,35, and Dustin Ray Binion,27, both of Bellingham.

Law enforcement intervened in the drug exchange. Galeana Garcia and Garnica Pacheco abandoned the car they were driving. Various vehicles were seized by law enforcement and court authorized search warrants resulted in the seizure of more than 10

 kilograms of cocaine and a 9mm firearm in the center console of one of the vehicles.  After law enforcement had identified and located the various defendants they executed search warrants on their residences last week. Galeana-Garcia and Garnica Pacheco both had a significant number of firearms and ammunition for semiautomatic weapons. That evidence as to Galeana Garcia was presented to Magistrate Judge Kate Vaughan who ordered him detained.

Due to the significant amount of narcotics involved in this case the defendants face a mandatory minimum ten years in prison.

The charges contained in the criminal complaint 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.

These arrests are 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. The HSTF 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), and the 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.

Homeland Security Investigations is investigating the case. The DEA, FBI and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office provided key assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Vincent T. Lombardi.

Seattle – A Seattle medical testing laboratory will pay the government $2 million to resolve allegations that it illegally overbilled government health care programs, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) revealed that FidaLab improperly billed Medicare when they requested permission to bill a series of Urinary Tract Infection tests as a panel, had their request denied, and then billed the tests under multiple billing codes instead of a single code. While not admitting fault, the $2 million payment resolves the matter.

“We all have a stake in keeping healthcare costs under control,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Manipulating billing codes to overcharge for tests is an obvious area where we need to root out fraud. This case should be a warning to other companies to make sure they are billing for healthcare services appropriately.”

“Laboratories entrusted with taxpayer-funded health care programs must submit truthful and accurate claims,” said Robb R. Breeden, Acting Special Agent in Charge with HHS-OIG. “Submitting false laboratory testing claims wastes critical resources and undermines trust in our health care system. HHS-OIG will continue working with our law enforcement partners to ensure taxpayer dollars are used as intended—to provide care for the American people.”

FidaLab agrees not to seek payment for the unallowed costs from any of the patients involved in these health care billings.

The case was investigated by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

The settlement was negotiated by Assistant United States Attorney Matt Waldrop with substantial assistance from investigative analyst Ryan Hardy.

A Washington man pleaded guilty today to a federal hate crime charge for violently assaulting and stabbing a black female bus passenger because of her race. 

According to records filed in the case, on March 7, 2024, Adan C. Hernandez-Mayoral made derogatory comments about black people while he was riding a King County Metro bus. Hernandez-Mayoral then yelled at another passenger on the bus, and made racially derogatory comments directed at the victim, including referring to the woman as “Rosa Parks” and telling her to move to the back of the bus.

The woman walked to the front of the bus to try to get help and call the police, but Hernandez-Mayoral followed her. When the bus stopped, Hernandez-Mayoral pushed the woman off the bus and repeatedly assaulted her. He then pulled out a knife and stabbed at the victim numerous times before running away. Fortunately, the victim was wearing a heavy coat that prevented the knife from puncturing her skin, but the assault and stabbing caused bodily injury to the victim. Shortly after the assault, Kent Police located Hernandez-Mayoral hiding under a car, where he was then arrested.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Charles Neil of the Western District of Washington, and FBI Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington of the of the FBI Seattle Field Office made the announcement.

Hernandez-Mayoral is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17, 2026. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the Kent Police Department and the FBI, with the cooperation and support of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Tenette Smith of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica M. Manca for the Western District of Washington. 

Seattle – A 24-year-old Auburn, Washington man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to committing a hate crime involving bodily injury and a dangerous weapon for his attack on a Black bus rider, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.  Adan C. Hernandez-Mayoral is scheduled for sentencing in front of Judge James L. Robart on March 17, 2026.

According to records filed in the case, on March 7, 2024, Hernandez-Mayoral made derogatory comments about Black people while he was riding a King County Metro bus. When a Black woman on the bus looked to see who was making racist comments, he yelled at her not to look at him and made more comments, including referring to the woman as “Rosa Parks” and asking her to move to the back of the bus. The woman walked to the front of the bus to call the police and Hernandez-Mayoral followed.

When the bus stopped, Hernandez-Mayoral pushed the woman off the bus and assaulted her. He pulled out a knife that he thrust at the woman’s abdomen numerous times before running away. Fortunately, the woman was wearing a heavy coat that prevented the knife from reaching her skin. Nevertheless, the assault caused bodily injury.

As Kent Police searched for the suspect in the attack, a neighbor called police reporting a man hiding in their yard. The clothing matched that of the assailant shown on the Metro surveillance video. Hernandez-Mayoral was arrested hiding under a car a short distance from the scene of the assault.

Prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than 57 months to be served concurrently with any sentence imposed in the King County Superior and District court cases involving Hernandez-Mayoral. Judge Robart is not bound by the recommendation and can impose any sentence allowed by law.

The case was investigated by the Kent Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office provided substantial assistance and worked closely with federal prosecutors on this case to hold Hernandez-Mayoral accountable for his conduct.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M. Manca for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Tenette R. Smith of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Ms. Manca leads the criminal civil rights investigations for the Western District of Washington.

Tacoma – A high-volume tax preparer in Vancouver, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 18 months in federal prison for sixteen counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns, to be followed by a 135-month concurrent sentence imposed by Clark County for his convictions on a state attempted murder charge announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Keith Altamirano, 52, operated Integrity Investments, LLC, doing business as “Servicios Latinos.” Between 2017 and 2021, Altamirano prepared at least 12,000 tax returns. A statistical sampling analysis reveals that his false entries on customer tax returns cost the U.S. Treasury more than $5 million in tax loss. At the sentencing hearing Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said that tax preparer fraud impacts our government’s ability to “function properly” and that adequate “deterrence [was] necessary.” 

According to records filed in the case, Altamirano falsified clients’ income tax submissions by listing fake medical expenses, and charitable donations for deductions, listing fake cars for depreciation and expense deductions, and by listing fabricated and inflated business expenses.  Altamirano concealed his fraud by omitting his name on his clients’ filed returns. The clients did not know Altamirano falsified their tax return to get them a larger refund. Altamirano’s fraud helped build his business as customers recommended him to others to get larger refunds.

In asking for a five-year sentence, prosecutors noted that Altamirano’s customers were victimized by his actions. “Altamirano’s clients trusted him (and paid him) to maximize their deductions honestly and in accordance with the law. His clients were not tax literate, and they chose him as their trusted professional. Altamirano greatly abused this trust and put them at risk by creating fraudulent returns on their behalf. Many of his clients have been audited and risk penalties and back taxes. His clients believed they were hiring a professional to ensure their taxes were done correctly and many of them have had to deal with the stress of being embroiled in Altamirano’s criminal affairs.”

The tax loss for the 16 counts he pleaded guilty to is $104,518. Altamirano agreed to pay that amount in restitution to the IRS. Chief Judge Estudillo ordered Altamirano to sell one of the four properties he owns to pay the restitution.

In September 2025, Altamirano also pled guilty to attempted second degree murder and drug charges in Clark County Superior Court. Altamirano was sentenced to 135 months of imprisonment in his state case, which will run concurrently with his federal sentence according to the Clark County judgment.

The tax fraud case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

The tax fraud case is being prosecuted by Amanda McDowell. 

Seattle – A 58-year-old Bellevue, Washington and Las Vegas, man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle for his role in a scheme to sell stolen goods on Amazon and eBay, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.  Andrey A. Balun pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce. Balun and his co-defendant, Vitaliy F. Bobak, 53, of Federal Way, Washington, jointly owned MBA Trading LLC which did business at a Burien, Washington storefront operating as “We Buy Gold, Silver, and Electronics.” An extensive law enforcement investigation revealed that the storefront knowingly purchased goods that had been stolen from area retailers. The pair then sold the goods on Amazon or eBay for millions of dollars in profit.

According to the plea agreement and other records filed in the case, Balun co-owned the business since 2018.  In 2019 Bobak bought a 50 percent share of the business that once belonged to Balun’s original business partner. Balun trained Bobak on how to operate the business. Balun admits that the business purchased stolen goods from individual sellers knowing that the goods were stolen. The business bought primarily over the counter medications and health/beauty products. In many instances the goods still had anti-theft devices attached, and/or stickers saying for sale only at a particular retailer.  The men bought the goods far below the retail price and then posted them for sale on two websites they operated on Amazon and eBay. The Amazon store was called “Medikus” and the eBay store was called “abcstore555.” Money from the online stores was traced to the men’s bank accounts. The funds were then used by the men to operate the scheme by paying cash to the “boosters” (people who stole the goods) and payroll to employees who were involved in posting and shipping the goods for sale.  The remainder of the proceeds were funneled to the men who then withdrew money to pay themselves and for various personal expenses. Between 2021 and June of 2023, the operation brought in more than $4.5 million. Balun obtained proceeds of at least $1 million. Investigators traced some of that money to his purchase of a home in Las Vegas.

The plea agreement details three items brought to the We Buy store as stolen goods that were then sold on Amazon and eBay: a Braun electric shaver, sold and shipped to Rhode Island, a Keurig coffee maker sold and shipped to Oregon and Sonicare and Rogaine products purchased from a “booster.” Bobak used a torch lighter and drill to remove the security devices on the products.

The scale of the sales was huge and both national and international. An analysis of the sales of the two online stores reveals that between January 1, 2022, and November 28, 2023, there were over 150,000 sale transactions through the abcstore555 eBay and Medikus Amazon stores. When search warrants were served and merchandise seized on December 19, 2023, the conspirators possessed more than 74,000 items of stolen merchandise valued at approximately $2.4 million. After the seizure, the business shut down.

In his plea agreement Balun agrees to forfeit $1,000,000 to the government as part of the resolution of his case.

Conspiracy to transport stolen property is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Bobak is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Tana Lin on January 14, 2026. Balun is scheduled for sentencing on March 11, 2026. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend that Balun serve no more than 57 months in prison. Judge Lin is not limited by the recommendation and can impose any sentence allowed by law.

The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with significant assistance from the Renton Police Department, Seattle Police Department, and the IRS, and aided by investigators from numerous retailers. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sean H. Waite and Asset Forfeiture Assistant United States Attorney Krista Bush.

Seattle – A former real estate professional who operated a real estate investment fund was convicted late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and tax fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Tamara King, aka Tamara Waln, 56, of Toledo, Ohio, previously resided in Bellevue and Kirkland, Washington. The jury also convicted King of eight counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, and three counts of filing a false tax return after an 8-day jury trial. Jurors deliberated for five hours before reaching the guilty verdict. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez scheduled sentencing for March 20, 2026.

King’s co-defendant Paul Waln, 60, now of Dallas, Texas, pleaded guilty to the wire fraud conspiracy in June 2025 and was sentenced to 33 months in prison on October 31, 2025.

According to records filed in the case, between August 2009 and December 2013, Waln solicited investments in a real estate fund called Halcyon. Twenty-two victims, most of whom were Seattle residents, invested $2.25 million in the fund. Waln told investors their funds would be pooled to purchase and renovate an apartment building in West Seattle and then used for other real estate projects. Investors were required to leave their money in the investment pool for ten years. Waln said that at the end of the 10-year period, Waln would return the investment principal and earnings, which he estimated amount to a 20 percent annual return. Waln was entitled to receive a 1% fee for managing the investment fund.

In 2013, Waln married King, who was also a real estate agent. Waln and King then jointly managed the investment fund. Between February 2014 and December 2018, they conspired to misappropriate money from the fund to pay their personal expenses. The pair secretly transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from the fund to their management company and then transferred the money to King’s personal accounts. In some instances, they wrote secret memos characterizing these transfers as “loans,” but the money was never repaid. Investors were never told about the “loans.”

Under the terms of the investment, Waln and King were required to distribute the investment funds to investors in 2019. But by the end of 2018, they had misappropriated all the money. In December 2018, Waln sent investors a letter falsely claiming that the fund’s general contractor had been diagnosed with cancer. Waln told investors that this would result in a two-to-three-year delay before he would be able to return investors’ money. The contractor in question never had a cancer diagnosis.

Finally, in October 2019, King informed the investors that all the money was gone, and the investment had failed. All the remaining investors lost their entire investments.

In addition, King failed to report over $1.6 million in income over three tax years. For those three tax years, King reported $188,116 in total income, when she actually received $1.85 million. 

At trial, King blamed Waln for the misappropriation, claiming Waln told her the “loans” were allowed. Assistant United States Attorney Seth Wilkinson told the jurors that the couple acted as a team. Waln “brought the money in the front door and King stole it out the back. … She took $50,000 for an 8 and a half carat diamond ring and more than $120,000 for her Tesla.” Prosecutors noted that King transferred investor money to accounts she controlled so that she could buy what she wanted with the investors’ money. In all investors lost $2.4 million. “She blindly drained every last dollar,” Assistant United States Attorney Cindy Chang told jurors.

Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud are punishable by up to twenty years in prison. Money laundering is punishable by up to ten years in prison. Filing a false tax return is punishable by up to three years in prison.

The case is being investigated by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson, Cindy Chang, and Jehiel Baer.

Tacoma – Two Lacey, Washington, men – both former members of the military – were indicted by the grand jury this week for conspiracy, four counts of theft of government property, assault, robbery, and attempted theft of government property, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Charles Ethan Fields, 27, and Levi Austin Frakes, 27, have been in custody since their arrest on June 2, 2025. The men will be arraigned on the charges on December 22, 2025.

According to the indictment, by at least early 2023, the men conspired to steal military equipment from Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM). The men took the equipment from JBLM – including helmets, clothing, communications equipment, and ballistic vests –to the home they shared in Lacey. They photographed the items and offered them for sale on online marketplaces in accounts under false names.

The indictment alleges seven different time periods when Fields and Frakes entered JBLM and stole items from the Ranger compound. In January 2023 they stole from lockers in the Alpha Company Operations Facility. In February 2023, they stole from lockers of the Charlie Company Operations Facility. In May 2023, they stole from the Delta Company Operations Facility. In January 2024, they again stole from the Charlie Company Operation Facility lockers. In June 2024, they stole from the Alpha Company a second time, and in January 2025 they raided the Alpha Company lockers a third time.

On June 1, 2025, the men were attempting to steal from the Charlie Company Operations Facility in the Ranger compound when a member of the Army discovered them. Fields and Frakes were masked and when questioned, the men started fighting with the Army member and beat him on the head and torso with a hammer. The victim was able to gain control of the hammer, only to have one of the men pull a knife and brandish it at him. The men – later identified as Fields and Frakes – ran from the Ranger compound and dropped the items they were trying to steal.

Investigators collected evidence at the scene of the attempted theft and assault and determined the men were trying to steal about $14,000 in government property on that occasion.

The men were traced to an address in Lacey and law enforcement obtained a warrant to search the residence the next day. Inside they found weapons and military property, including night vision devices, ballistic plates and plate carriers, and helmets; military munitions; and military explosives such as blasting caps, flashbangs, and smoke grenades. Some of the items are restricted and not allowed to be owned or stored in a private residence. Officers also recovered $24,000 in cash.

Assault and theft of government property are each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Robbery is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

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 case is being investigated by the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Marci L. Ellsworth. 

Seattle – A 42-year-old Everett, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 15 years in prison for eight federal felonies involving drug trafficking and illegally possessing firearms, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. David James Michael Jensen was convicted in September 2025, of five counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, two counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. At today’s sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tana Lin said, “You were bringing dangerous drugs into the state. Drugs that are causing thousands of deaths in our country…. Your actions contributed greatly to that suffering…. You kept getting drugs and guns despite being repeatedly detained by police.”

According to records filed in the case, over a three-year period Jensen was repeatedly identified and arrested by Everett Police involved with drug trafficking activities and firearms. On September 7, 2021, Jensen fled the scene of a two-car accident but left behind a backpack containing identity documents and a loaded 9mm handgun with extra ammunition. He was charged and convicted of illegally possessing the firearm.

On April 7, 2022, Jensen was detained for driving without a license. A court authorized search of his car revealed several loaded firearms as well as fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. For these crimes he was charged and convicted of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime which is punishable by a mandatory five-year term to run consecutive to any other conviction.

On May 11, 2022, Jensen was arrested again unlawfully possessing a firearm. In this case he had heroin, methamphetamine, and a High Point 9mm pistol.

Jensen’s next run-in with Everett Police occurred on July 31, 2024. Jensen was followed by police as he drove to a storage unit. Again, he was driving without a license and at the time of arrest officers found narcotics on him. In the storage unit officers found several firearms, including two “ghost guns” those that are privately made without serial numbers. They found ammunition and 400 fentanyl pills as well as several motorbikes – one of which was stolen.

Finally on December 27, 2024, Everett Police observed Jensen in Seattle placing various bags in different vehicles. They got a search warrant for one of the vehicles and found a loaded Glock 19 handgun as well as fentanyl, heroin, and drug paraphernalia. Jensen was then transferred to federal custody and indicted on these federal charges.

In asking for the 15-year sentence Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Hobbs wrote to the court, “Jensen was caught on multiple occasions with firearms and distribution quantities of drugs. He was clearly redistributing drugs and was in possession of firearms while doing so. Jensen clearly had no regard for the law, returning to possessing drugs and guns despite being detained for doing so on multiple occasions… Jensen’s actions placed the community, law enforcement, and himself at risk.”

The case was investigated by the Everett Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Hobbs. 

Seattle – The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington and 24-Hour Fitness, a nine-state exercise facility business, this week resolved allegations it failed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. The chain will embark on new training and policies to ensure compliance with the ADA and will pay the complainant $2,000. The fitness chain denies any wrongdoing.

According to the settlement agreement, the complainant was a member at the Vancouver, Washington, Mill Plain Boulevard, 24-Hour Fitness. She complained that the accessible shower in the women’s locker room had not been available for months. An investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed the accessible shower was unusable for several months due to ongoing repairs and maintenance.

While not agreeing that it violated the ADA, 24-Hour Fitness will make new draft policies regarding ADA compliance at all 24-Hour Fitness locations and submit them to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for review. The new policies will require surveys every six months of all 24-Hour Fitness facilities, with an eye to ADA compliance. The policies will also establish a protocol to conduct daily observations of accessible features to ensure usability and address maintenance and repair issues. The company agrees to post its ADA compliance commitment at all Washington locations and will maintain a complaint process for all facilities to address concerns or allegations of discrimination based on disability. If the U.S. Attorney’s Office receives any additional complaints it will provide them to attorneys for the company with the expectation that the company will respond in five business days.

The clubs will train all its employees on ADA compliance and will keep records of facility repairs related to ADA compliance. The clubs will report on compliance regarding the Washington facilities to the U.S. Attorney’s Office every twelve months for a two-year period.

In addition to paying $2,000 to the complainant, 24-Hour Fitness agrees to pay $10,000 to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. However, that payment will be suspended if 24-Hour Fitness successfully meets all the requirements of the settlement over a two-year period.

The settlement was negotiated by Assistant United States Attorney Susan Kas, Civil Rights Coordinator in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Seattle – The operator of a web of boiler-room-type call centers was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison for defrauding nearly 1,000 distressed homeowners facing foreclosure, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.  Mohammed Zafaranchi, 43, aka ‘Mike’ was convicted following a week-long trial of all twelve federal charges he faced: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, five counts of money laundering, and obstruction of justice. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour ordered Zafaranchi to begin serving his sentence immediately, saying the sentence was based “on the evidence the court heard at trial and the substantial number of victims and the severe hardship the victims suffered.”

“This defendant lined his pockets with some $2.6 million while preying on vulnerable homeowners,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Of more than 900 victims, many lost their homes to foreclosure, and all were in worse financial shape due to the ‘help’ his company never provided. This is a significant sentence for a fraud case, and one that is deserved by the trail of financial hardship this defendant left in his wake.”

“Like many fraudsters, Mr. Zafaranchi took advantage of a vulnerable population: in this case, homeowners facing foreclosure,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “He then tailored a scheme to prey on their financial difficulties by offering them false hope in return for a hefty fee to supposedly reduce their debt and interest rate. As consequence for his actions, Mr. Zafaranchi now has a decade in prison to consider the harm he’s done and, hopefully, resolve to change his ways.”

Zafaranchi’s fraud scheme involved purchasing data that identified homeowners who were behind on their mortgages and at risk of losing their homes. Each week, Zafaranchi sent thousands of solicitation mailers falsely telling the distressed homeowners they were eligible for government programs that would reduce their mortgage debt by 30% and reduce their interest rate to 2%. The mailers told homeowners to call a phone number before a made-up deadline to get the mortgage modification.

When homeowners called the call centers, operators followed a series of scripts telling homeowners that lawyers and underwriters had vetted their case and negotiated a modification with their lender. The scripts instructed operators to place callers on hold for a pre-determined amount of time to build suspense and make it appear a review was underway.  The operator would then return to the line and tell each victim he or she was one of the very select few who qualified for the program—but only if the homeowner paid the call center a $3,000 legal fee to “finalize” the modification.

In fact, Zafaranchi’s businesses had no legal or underwriting staff. Instead, untrained workers simply scanned the homeowners’ financial records, completed a basic application form, and sent the documents to the banks. The homeowners did not receive the modifications promised in the mailers, and some lost their homes.

After taking the victims’ money, Zafaranchi laundered the funds through shell bank accounts and withdrew the proceeds in cash. He was convicted of money laundering for this conduct.

On March 29, 2018, the FBI served a search warrant on the call center in Everett Washington. After learning of this search, Zafaranchi told his California employees to remove the computers and other evidence from his California offices. That night, Zafaranchi destroyed all records associated with three email accounts he used to operate the businesses. For that conduct, Zafaranchi was convicted of obstruction of justice.

In asking for a 12-year sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “Although the theft of nearly $3 million is horrific no matter the circumstances, the money that Zafaranchi stole was taken from people who desperately needed it. Stealing $3,000 from families, retirees, or other vulnerable individuals who are desperately fighting to keep their homes is appalling. And Zafaranchi did that day, after day, after day, to more than 900 people until he was finally caught—an average of nearly a victim a day for three years. Indeed, given that Zafaranchi exploited more than 900 victims, a sentence of 144 months would amount to less than 1 week of incarceration for each of his victims.”

Today, Judge Coughenour ordered Zafaranchi to turn himself in to the U.S. Marshal Office at the federal courthouse to being serving his ten-year sentence immediately. Zafaranchi will be on three years of supervised release following prison. The amount of restitution Zafaranchi must pay to his victims will be determined at a future hearing.

Zafaranchi’s two coconspirators, Mark Lezama and Josh Herrera both pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in early 2026.

The case was investigated by the FBI.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson, Lauren Watts Staniar, and Dane A. Westermeyer. The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General provided support in the case.  

Seattle –A 55-year-old Everett, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison for three federal felonies including a pipe bomb explosion that destroyed a neighbor’s car, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Steven Goldstine pleaded guilty in September 2025, to unlawful possession of a destructive device; unlawful possession of ammunition; and unlawful possession of a firearm. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John H. Chun said “This case involves serious and quite frankly horrifying conduct. Add in the racist statements it is disgusting conduct.”

“This defendant turned his racial hatred into a potentially deadly explosion, using a pipe bomb to blow up a car. Not everything is a hate crime, but we believe this defendant acted on racial hatred,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “After the bombing he called the victims to gloat, leaving a message with racial slurs. This time in prison will protect our community.”

“Fueled by hatred for a neighbor’s race, the defendant used a pipe bomb to cause an explosion and destroy property,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “This sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s steadfast commitment to vigorously prosecute racially motivated crimes and ensure perpetrators are held accountable.”

“The violence and hatred behind this crime had no place in Everett, and our detectives worked closely with our federal partners to ensure a thorough investigation and a strong case, said Everett Police Chief John DeRousse. “The victim in this incident showed resilience in the face of a senseless act meant to intimidate and divide.  We are grateful for the collaboration with the FBI, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office that ultimately brought accountability and helped reinforce that everyone in our community deserves to feel safe.”

According to records filed in the case, on December 31, 2024, Everett Police responded to reports of an explosion in a car parked at an apartment complex. The victims told police they suspected Goldstine due to a conflict they had with him. The day after the explosion they received a voice message from Goldstine using racial slurs and referencing the explosion in the vehicle. The police investigation used video surveillance from the victim’s apartment and nearby businesses to link the bomber to clothing found at Goldstine’s home.

The investigation also led to the guilty pleas and sentencing for two other federal crimes: unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawful possession of a firearm. Goldstine is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition due to prior felony convictions for burglary, arson, and possession of stolen property.

Goldstine illegally possessed more than 700 rounds of ammunition which were seized from his home when it was searched following the pipe bomb explosion. Previously, in September 2020, law enforcement searched Goldstine’s residence after he pointed a gun at protestors in Everett. The action was captured on video. In that search of Goldstine’s home, the firearm was seized by law enforcement.

In asking for a 78 month prison sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “Goldstine has a deeply troubling history of violence, dating back to several serious convictions for arson in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Violence has remained a consistent part of his life over the past five years, from assaulting a neighbor and fighting with police in 2019, to pointing a gun at protestors in 2020 to making death threats on YouTube in 2022… to bombing (the victim’s) car at the end of December 2024.”

“No one should fear violence based on their beliefs or identity, and terror motivated by hate will not be tolerated. This sentence reflects our commitment to investigate and prosecute reprehensible, hate-fueled acts of violence to the fullest extent of the law,” said ATF Seattle Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson.

“After years of hateful and violent behavior, Mr. Goldstine is now being sentenced for exploding his neighbors’ car, bragging about it, and leaving an offensive message for the victims,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “Thankfully, no one was hurt in this incident, which could well have killed someone. Together with our partners, the Puget Sound Joint Terrorism Task Force will not stand for such violent intimidation and will remain vigilant in combatting such dangerous acts.”

Judge Chun ordered Goldstine to be on three years of supervised release following prison. For one of those years he ordered that Goldstine be on electronic location monitoring.

The case was investigated by the Everett Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the FBI. The Snohomish County Prosecutors Office provided valuable assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M. Manca for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. 

A 55-year-old Everett, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison for three federal felonies including a pipe bomb explosion that destroyed a neighbor’s car. Steven Goldstine pleaded guilty in September 2025, to unlawful possession of a destructive device; unlawful possession of ammunition; and unlawful possession of a firearm. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John H. Chun said “This case involves serious and quite frankly horrifying conduct. Add in the racist statements it is disgusting conduct.”

“Fueled by hatred for a neighbor’s race, the defendant used a pipe bomb to cause an explosion and destroy property,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “This sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s steadfast commitment to vigorously prosecute racially motivated crimes and ensure perpetrators are held accountable.”

“This defendant turned his racial hatred into a potentially deadly explosion, using a pipe bomb to blow up a car. Not everything is a hate crime, but we believe this defendant acted on racial hatred,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd for the Western District of Washington. “After the bombing he called the victims to gloat, leaving a message with racial slurs. This time in prison will protect our community.”

“After years of hateful and violent behavior, Mr. Goldstine is now being sentenced for exploding his neighbors’ car, bragging about it, and leaving an offensive message for the victims,” said Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington of the FBI Seattle Field Office. “Thankfully, no one was hurt in this incident, which could well have killed someone. Together with our partners, the Puget Sound Joint Terrorism Task Force will not stand for such violent intimidation and will remain vigilant in combatting such dangerous acts.”

“No one should fear violence based on their beliefs or identity, and terror motivated by hate will not be tolerated,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson of the ATF Seattle Field Division. “This sentence reflects our commitment to investigate and prosecute reprehensible, hate-fueled acts of violence to the fullest extent of the law.”

“The violence and hatred behind this crime had no place in Everett, and our detectives worked closely with our federal partners to ensure a thorough investigation and a strong case,” said Everett Police Chief John DeRousse. “The victim in this incident showed resilience in the face of a senseless act meant to intimidate and divide. We are grateful for the collaboration with the FBI, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office that ultimately brought accountability and helped reinforce that everyone in our community deserves to feel safe.”

According to records filed in the case, on Dec. 31, 2024, Everett Police responded to reports of an explosion in a car parked at an apartment complex. The victims told police they suspected Goldstine due to a conflict they had with him. The day after the explosion they received a voice message from Goldstine using racial slurs and referencing the explosion in the vehicle. The police investigation used video surveillance from the victim’s apartment and nearby businesses to link the bomber to clothing found at Goldstine’s home.

The investigation also led to the guilty pleas and sentencing for two other federal crimes: unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawful possession of a firearm. Goldstine is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition due to prior felony convictions for burglary, arson, and possession of stolen property.

Goldstine illegally possessed more than 700 rounds of ammunition which were seized from his home when it was searched following the pipe bomb explosion. Previously, in September 2020, law enforcement searched Goldstine’s residence after he pointed a gun at protestors in Everett. The action was captured on video. In that search of Goldstine’s home, the firearm was seized by law enforcement.

In asking for a 78 month prison sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “Goldstine has a deeply troubling history of violence, dating back to several serious convictions for arson in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Violence has remained a consistent part of his life over the past five years, from assaulting a neighbor and fighting with police in 2019, to pointing a gun at protestors in 2020 to making death threats on YouTube in 2022… to bombing (the victim’s) car at the end of December 2024.”

Judge Chun ordered Goldstine to be on three years of supervised release following prison. For one of those years he ordered that Goldstine be on electronic location monitoring.

The case was investigated by the Everett Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the FBI. The Snohomish County Prosecutors Office provided valuable assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica M. Manca for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. 

Seattle – A 57-year-old Monroe, Washington man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to a federal felony: Harboring an Alien for Financial Gain, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Rangel Ramirez-Manzano was originally charged with four federal felonies related to his treatment of a victim smuggled into the U.S. at his direction. After years of delay in the case over whether Ramirez-Manzano was mentally competent to go to trial, the case was resolved with the guilty plea. U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik scheduled sentencing for March 5, 2026.

According to records filed in the case, Ramirez-Manzano had known the victim, who lived in his hometown in Mexico, when she was younger. He pursued a long-distance relationship with the victim, urging her to move to the U.S. to be his girlfriend. Ramirez-Manzano paid $17,000 for her to be smuggled across the border and into southern California. Ramirez-Manzano picked her up from the smugglers and paid them. Almost immediately upon arriving in Washington, he forced her to begin hard labor for his landscaping business and threatened her, assaulted her, and threatened the children she left behind in Mexico.

The case files describe how he isolated her from others, restricted her food, and failed to pay her any wages for months of strenuous work at various landscaping job locations. In the plea agreement, the defendant admitted that the victim did at least $16,000 worth of uncompensated work for his business.

Ramirez-Manzano harbored the victim in his home from February 2022 until April 24, 2022. The victim was finally able to escape from Ramirez-Manzano’s home and asked a neighbor to call 911. The Monroe Police responded and took the victim for medical attention for multiple injuries. The FBI joined the Monroe Police in investigating the case. Ramirez-Manzano was charged by criminal complaint and arrested in September 2022. He has remained in federal custody ever since, with various mental evaluations and treatment.

Ramirez-Manzano has agreed to pay the victim $16,000 in restitution. Law enforcement seized $16,000 in cash from Ramirez-Manzano’s work truck and it will be forfeited to the government for restitution.

Harboring an alien for financial gain is punishable by up to ten years in prison. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend five years in prison, but Judge Lasnik can impose any sentence allowed by law.

Ramirez-Manzano is a legal permanent resident, but his status can be revoked due to a conviction such as this. He likely will be deported following his prison term.

The case is being investigated by the FBI.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kate Crisham and Rachel Yemini. Ms. Crisham is the Western District of Washington coordinator of our efforts to stop human trafficking.

Seattle – The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Polyclinic, d/b/a Optum Care Washington, has resolved allegations one of its medical facilities failed on multiple occasions to provide sign language interpreter services for a patient who is deaf and blind, in violation of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the terms of the settlement, the Polyclinic will pay $25,000 to the patient who had multiple appointments either cancelled or with inadequate interpreter services. The Polyclinic has also set up a fund of $350,000 to compensate any other patients who were impacted by the clinics’ failure to have appropriate interpreter services during the Claims Period between January 1, 2021, and September 30, 2025. In addition to the financial payments Polyclinic will take several steps to ensure compliance with the ADA.

The Polyclinic commits to having appropriate interpreter services available for all patients and will contract with no fewer than five companies to provide interpreter services. As part of its intake process for patients the Polyclinic will assess the need for appropriate aids or services. The Polyclinic will designate a point person to oversee assistive devices and services, and that person will have additional staffers who can arrange appropriate services. This group of employees will undergo mandatory training approved by the U.S. Attorney’s Office regarding the steps to identify communication needs and secure interpreter services. Training will also be provided to all staff who have patient contact.

The Polyclinic will maintain a log of patients or companions who need assistive services, and the services provided. If services are not provided the log will explain the circumstances. These logs will be part of the Compliance Report that the Polyclinic will periodically provide to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Polyclinic will post information in Braille as well printed signs about the Auxiliary Aids and Services it has available. The information will also be posted on the Polyclinic website about ways to request such services.

Every six months Polyclinic will prepare a compliance report for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. If there are any complaints about failing to provide appropriate auxiliary aids or services those complaints must be forwarded to the U.S. Attorney’s Office within 30 days.

The Polyclinic will pay the United States $25,000 to vindicate the public interest in enforcement of the ADA. The Polyclinic will name a Claims Administrator to review its records to determine if there are other patients who were harmed by the failure to provide appropriate assistive services during the Claims Period. The list of patients and the number of appointments cancelled or impacted will be provided to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Those patients will be contacted by the Claims Administrator about a potential claim. There will also be a website where potentially eligible claimants can get more information. Eligible claimants may seek compensation from the $350,000 fund set up by Polyclinic. Any remaining funds after all legitimate claims have been processed will be returned to the Polyclinic.

The agreement between Polyclinic and the U.S. Attorney’s Office lasts for two years.

This is the fourth medical group to resolve allegations it violated the rights of patients who are deaf or deaf/blind. Over the past three years the U.S. Attorney’s Office has resolved cases with MultiCare Health systems , PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, and University of Washington Medical Center – Northwest (UWMC-NW).

The settlement was negotiated by Assistant United States Attorney Susan Kas, Civil Rights Coordinator in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Copies of the settlement are available upon request.

Seattle – Three Seattle area men were sentenced in October 2025 to significant federal prison sentences due to their convictions for drug trafficking and firearms violations, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.

The longest sentence, ten years, was imposed on Anthony Raymond Dodd, 36, of Seattle. Dodd was convicted of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime on July 25, 2025 following a three-day trial. At the sentencing hearing on October 27, 2025, U.S. District Judge John H. Chun noted that the offense was very serious, given the danger of fentanyl in our communities, and that it was compounded by the fact that Dodd had a gun and was on Department of Corrections community custody at the time of the offense.

In Tacoma, Chief Judge David G. Estudillo sentenced a drug trafficker connected to an Aryan Family prison gang to six years in prison. Philip Boorkman was a key drug distributor in one of three related drug trafficking groups. Boorkman was indicted in March 2023 and pleaded guilty in January 2025. At the October 3, 2025, sentencing hearing Judge Estudillo said, “This is a serious offense…The amount of damage it does to the community is probably immeasurable in terms of lives lost and all of the ripple effects from people who are addicted.”

In asking for a seven-year sentence, prosecutors wrote to the court, “Boorkman was a trusted member of a large distribution network responsible for distributing hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills. Based on Boorkman’s trusted role in the organization, there is no question that he understood the devastating impact these drugs were having on the community.”

And finally, on October 1, 2025, U.S District Judge Tana Lin sentenced Tacoma resident Marquise Tolbert, 30, to 39 months in prison for drug trafficking and illegal firearms possession. Tolbert pleaded guilty to federal charges in March 2025.

Investigators with the FBI Safe Streets task force, the DEA, and the Seattle Police Gun Violence Reduction Unit were investigating a drug trafficking organization when Tolbert and his coconspirators were heard on a wiretap discussing a shoot-out in Federal Way. From that point on, investigators worked to identify those who were possessing and using firearms as part of their criminal activity. Investigators heard Tolbert discussing his purchase of the Ruger firearm from another member of the conspiracy.  On the day he bought the gun, law enforcement, surveilled Tolbert, followed him to his residence, arrested him, and secured the firearm.

Prior to the federal investigation, in 2020, Tolbert was involved in a shootout at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle. One woman was killed, and seven other bystanders were injured in the gun battle. Tolbert was acquitted in state court on murder and assault charges connected to the incident. He was convicted of illegal firearms possession.

The case against Anthony Raymond Dodd was investigated by the Washington State Department of Corrections, the Seattle Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Cecelia Gregson and Rachel Yemini.

The case against Philip Boorkman was investigated by the FBI with critical investigative teamwork from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Washington State Department of Corrections. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary Dillon, Max Shiner, and Jehiel Baer.

Marquise Tolbert was investigated by the FBI, the Seattle Police Department, and the DEA as part of their focus on getting firearms off the streets. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen Hobbs and Michelle Jensen. 

Tacoma – Two Lacey, Washington, men – both former members of the military – will appear in federal court in Tacoma today at 1:30 PM on a criminal complaint filed in June following a brutal assault on Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM), announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Charles Ethan Fields, 27, and Levi Austin Frakes, 27, have been in custody in Thurston County since their arrest on June 2, 2025. The men are charged federally with robbery, assault, and theft of government property.

According to the criminal complaint, the men entered JBLM around 8PM on June 1, 2025. About an hour after that, a member of the Army discovered them in the Ranger compound. The men were masked and had Army property arrayed around them. When questioned, the men started fighting with the Army member and beat him on the head and torso with a hammer. The victim was able to gain control of the hammer, only to have one of the men pull a knife and brandish it at the victim. The men – later identified as Fields and Frakes, ran from the Ranger compound, and dropped some of the items they allegedly were trying to steal.

Investigators collected evidence at the scene of the thefts and assault and determined the men were trying to steal about $14,000 in government property.

The men were traced to an address in Lacey and law enforcement obtained a warrant to search the residence. Inside they found weapons and military property, including night vision devices, ballistic plates and plate carriers, and helmets; military munitions; and military explosives such as blasting caps, flashbangs, and smoke grenades. Some of the items are restricted and not allowed to be owned or stored in a private residence. Officers also recovered $24,000 in cash.

Assault and theft of government property are each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Robbery is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The charges contained in the criminal complaint 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 case is being investigated by the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Marci L. Ellsworth. 

Seattle –A Tacoma woman who used her brief employment with the victim credit union to steal account information of customers so that conspirators could take over the accounts and steal the funds, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 30 m0nths in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. Aneicia Ford, 32, began stealing account information from some 23 victims within weeks of the start of her employment. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead said, “What you did was serious… Your employer trusted you with access to customers’ more personal information…. Real people suffered real harm from the actions that you took.”

According to records filed in the case, between May and August 2022, Aneicia Ford worked out of her Tacoma home as a contact center employee who helped customers with account issues.  In that role, she had access to personally identifying information about customers of the credit union.  Although Ford’s role in the conspiracy was relatively simple, she nonetheless independently analyzed the victims’ accounts to ensure a specific account would be a fruitful and viable target for the conspirators. Only Ford had access to information such as the amount of funds available, or the age or profession of an individual victim. The first account takeover in the scheme occurred just days after Ford completed her training to be a customer service representative for the credit union.

The personally identifying information Ford stole was distributed by 23-year-old codefendant Dangelo Roberts, who with other conspirators used it to access and steal from customer accounts.

Using the stolen account information, Roberts provided other conspirators with false IDs and used them to get debit cards and to make withdrawals from the victims’ accounts, often at the credit union’s branches.  After obtaining increases to the ATM withdrawal limits, the conspirators obtained as much as $25,000 in cash.  The conspirators would also spend victims’ funds by ordering cashier’s checks or purchasing postal money orders that they made payable to other conspirators or their associates.  They used their illegal access to transfer money between accounts and check balances on accounts.

In all, the scheme stole approximately $345,014 from accounts at the victim credit union. The victim credit union suffered that loss, making all the account holders whole.

Ford pleaded guilty on May 20, 2025. Dangelo Roberts was sentenced last month to three years in prison for his role in the scheme.

In asking for a 30-month prison sentence for Ford, prosecutors wrote to the court, “Ford knowingly joined in the conspiracy shortly after starting a new job— following training instructing her not to do precisely what she did—and she contributed to the conspiracy for months. The credit union’s electronic logs demonstrate that Ford accessed the victims’ accounts on multiple occasions throughout the course of her employment (and not, for instance, all 23 accounts at once). The account takeovers in this case could not have occurred without the personally identifying information she stole.”

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG) and the FBI.

The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M. Ly.

Seattle – Three different companies settled allegations they applied for and accepted millions of dollars in pandemic loans for which they were not qualified, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. The companies have agreed to pay back a total of more than $5.4 million in restitution and penalties. The settlements are not an admission of guilt.

The first settlement payment is from Lotte Duty Free Guam LLC. A division of Lotte Hotel Holdings USA LLC. According to the settlement agreement, Lotte Duty Free Guam LLC received two Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. In its application for the loans, Lotte -which operates a duty-free store at the Guam airport, claimed to have fewer than 500 employees making them eligible for the loans.  However, the Guam store is part of a much larger company which has too many employees to qualify for the loans. Lotte will pay $3,437,549 to resolve the matter.

An Everett, Washington company that is a subsidiary of multinational aerospace conglomerate UMBRAGROUP S.p.A will pay $1,424,996 to resolve allegations it had too many employees to qualify for the SBA PPP loan it received.

Finally, Podworks Corporation will pay the government $632,958 for an SBA PPP loan the company received. In April 2025, a relator filed suit in U.S. District Court in Seattle alleging that Podworks did not qualify for the PPP loan because some of its business involves the sale of cannabis which is illegal under federal law. The settlement resolves the allegation.

These civil settlements include the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery.

These resolutions were negotiated by Assistant United States Attorneys Matt Waldrop and Kayla Stahman.

Seattle – An Indian national convicted of health care fraud was sentenced today in in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Mohammed Asif, 35, was arrested on April 10, 2025, at Chicago O’Hare International Airport while attempting to board an international flight. On September 4, 2025, Asif pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with the operation of American Labworks LLC, a diagnostic testing laboratory in Everett, Washington. Asif conspired with others to bill Medicare for COVID-19 tests and other respiratory illness tests that had not been ordered or performed.

At today’s sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge James L. Robart said the fraud amount, $1,174,813, “was a significant amount of money. It was money that was siphoned out of the Medicare system that is designed to treat the elderly and the poor… (The defendant) lacks moral character as a knowing participant in the fraud… He is someone the public needs to be protected from.”

“Mr. Asif participated in a scheme to steal more than a million dollars from Medicare -- funds that are meant to be used for important medical care,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Regrettably, schemes like this one are not unique. Medicare is a constant target of fraud, and the harm to the United States and taxpayers is substantial. We will continue to investigate and prosecute such fraud schemes.”

According to records filed in the case, the Washington Secretary of State has American Labworks being formed in October 2021 and dissolved in March 2025. Washington Department of Health records indicate that its license as a Medical Test Site expired in December 2023. Asif is listed in filings with the state and with Medicare as the owner and director of American Labworks.

Claims data from April 2024 to December 2024 show that American Labworks billed Medicare more than $8.7 million for laboratory testing services, including for COVID-19 testing. Medicare paid out over $1.1 million to the lab.

Between June 2024 and March 2025, Medicare received more than 200 complaints from enrollees and others about American Labworks. Many of these complainants reported that Medicare was billed for testing that was never received. For example, one Medicare enrollee noted that Medicare paid American Labworks $545 for COVID-19 tests in August 2023 and March 2024. But the beneficiary had never had any COVID-19 tests on those dates. Multiple Medicare beneficiaries said they too had seen bills for tests that never occurred. Physicians who had allegedly ordered the tests said they had not sent patients to American Labworks, and many patients said they had never heard of the referring physician listed in the records.

In some instances, the billing records indicated a beneficiary’s testing date of service occurred after other records indicated the beneficiary was dead. And in other instances, the physician who allegedly referred the patient for testing was dead at the time of the date of service.

Financial records indicate Mohammed Asif received multiple checks and made withdrawals from the American Labworks bank account, which he controlled. In May 2024, he withdrew $260,000 from the American Labworks checking account. Soon after that Asif, who had been in the U.S. on a student visa, returned to India. He came back to the U.S. in March 2025 as investigators were unraveling the fraud. Prosecutors and special agents with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) moved quickly to draft the criminal complaint and take Asif into custody. A grand jury then returned the indictment of Asif on April 23.

Asif conspired with other people to accomplish the fraud. The government’s investigation is ongoing.

“Billing Medicare for millions of dollars’ worth of laboratory testing that was never furnished is a serious offense that undermines the integrity of our healthcare system and diverts critical resources from those who truly need them,” said Robb R. Breeden, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).“This sentencing reflects HHS-OIG’s continued commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and bring to justice those who seek to exploit federal healthcare programs for their own personal gain.”

“Like so many other fraudsters who take advantage of such situations, Mr. Asif used the COVID-19 pandemic to steal from taxpayers for his own gain,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “In just a couple of years, his company billed Medicare millions of dollars for laboratory testing that never happened. To those would-be criminals who believe their schemes will never be uncovered: as this case shows, the FBI and our partners will carefully follow the money and financial records to ensure justice is served.”

Asif was ordered to pay $1,174,813 in restitution. He will likely be deported following his prison term.

The case is being investigated by HHS-OIG and the FBI.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Philip Kopczynski.

Seattle – In separate investigations led by the FBI, three western Washington men have been charged over the past two months with internet related child sexual abuse crimes, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Two of the men reside in Snohomish County and one in King County. In each case the defendant used the internet to contact victims or obtain child sexual abuse material.

“The government shutdown did not slow our work to investigate and prosecute those who harm children,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “There is no place in society for those who prey on vulnerable victims – especially children. We all must be vigilant about protecting our children from those who seek to harm them via the internet.”

On October 28, 2025, Anatoli Tony Fefelov, 30, of Lynnwood, Washington was charged by criminal complaint with distribution of images of child sexual abuse and attempted enticement of a minor. Fefelov came to the attention of law enforcement when a 13-year-old victim reported to the FBI National Threat Operations Center that a Discord user harassed, coerced, and threatened the minor to produce child sexual abuse material. Further investigation and reports to law enforcement identified a Kik account distributing child sexual abuse images. The accounts were linked to Fefelov.  In a search of Fefelov’s Lynnwood residence law enforcement located an electronic device allegedly containing images of child sexual abuse. The grand jury indicted Fefelov on November 12, 2025. Trial is scheduled for January 20, 2026, in front of U.S. District Judge Tana Lin. 

On October 30, 2025, Aqeel Ibn-Khalid Shareef, 28, was charged by criminal complaint with production of child sexual abuse material. In January 2024, Shareef was convicted of state sex crimes including rape of a child. He was ordered to register as a sex offender. Following his prison term he was being monitored by the Washington State Department of Corrections. In October 2025 Shareef’s DOC Community Corrections Officer contacted the FBI regarding concerns Shareef had unauthorized electronic devices. When Shareef was arrested by the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, officers seized two unauthorized electronic devices. The investigation revealed that the electronic devices contained communications with a minor victim and sexual abuse images of that victim. Shareef was indicted on November 12, 2025. Trial is set for January 20, 2026, in front of U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson.

Finally, a 55-year-old Marysville man who is a registered sex offender with sex crime convictions out of California, pleaded guilty on November 21, 2025, to possession of images of child sexual abuse. Robert Anthony Fiore came to the attention of law enforcement when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cybertip report from Dropbox that child sexual abuse material had been uploaded on Fiore’s account. Law enforcement obtained warrants and served search warrants on Fiore’s electronic devices finding 50 videos and 242 images of child sexual abuse.  In the plea agreement Fiore admitted that he was chatting online with more than a dozen minors as young as 12-years-old. Fiore is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Tana Lin on February 18, 2026.

“Thanks to the hard work of FBI Violent Crimes Against Children squads and task forces across the country, we and our partners are holding predators accountable for the harm they inflict on young people, including by circulating images and videos depicting sexual exploitation of minors on the internet,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “Once online, this content is extremely difficult to remove and re-victimizes these children each and every time it is shared.”

These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov .

These cases are being investigated by the FBI in coordination with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) with officers from the Seattle Police Department and Marysville Police Department, and the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC).

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson.

Tacoma – Three residents of the South Sound region face federal charges for their post office burglary scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. Justin Tate, 36, most recently of Tacoma, Gregory Foster, 58, of Port Orchard, Washington, and Paula Gamboa, 37 of Federal Way, Washington, were indicted by a federal grand jury on May 21, 2025. Tate was sentenced for an unrelated crime in Kitsap County yesterday and transferred to federal custody, where he will appear for arraignment in Tacoma at 1:30 PM. His co-defendants were previously arraigned.

According to the indictment, Tate led a burglary crew that targeted post offices in the Puget Sound region. The break-ins spanned Kitsap, Thurston, Pierce, King, and Island Counties. The thieves kept cash and other valuables from the stolen mail. Tate went on to allegedly use identity and financial documents obtained from victims’ mail to commit bank fraud. The specific burglaries are these:

• July 4, 2024, Tate and Foster allegedly break into the Olalla Post Office wearing face masks to obscure their identities.
• July 8, 2024, Tate and Foster allegedly attempt to enter the restricted area of the Littlerock Post Office – they disconnect the security camera but cannot breach a metal shutter into the restricted area.
• July 9, 2024, Tate and Gamboa allegedly enter the Fox Island Post Office and steal mail from various post office boxes.
• July 15, 2024, Foster allegedly breaks a window and enters the Anderson Island Contract Post Office and steal $3,000 in stamps, $100 in cash and about 100 postal money orders.
• July 24, 2024, Tate allegedly enters the Vashon Island Post Office and steals mail from multiple post office boxes.
• July 27, 2024, Tate and Foster allegedly force their way through the back door of the Snoqualmie Post Office and steal mail.
• July 30, 2024, Tate and Gamboa allegedly steal mail from boxes inside the Preston Post Office.
• July 31, 2024, Tate and Gamboa break into the Clinton Post Office on Whidbey Island and steal mail from post boxes and from a mail drop box.

The indictment charges Justin Tate with two counts of bank fraud and lists various transactions that constitute the bank fraud charges. Tate opened a bank account in the name of one of the victims and then transferred or attempted to transfer more than $3,500 for his own use. He attempted to deposit more than $13,000 in fraudulent checks. Tate also ran up $7,200 in point-of-sale charges with a stolen debit card.

Tate is also charged with two counts of Aggravated Identity Theft for his use of the identities of his victims in the bank fraud scheme.

Conspiracy is punishable by up to five years in prison. Bank fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Aggravated Identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum two years in prison to run consecutive to any other prison term imposed in the case.

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 case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Victoria Cantore.

Seattle – A jury in U.S. District Court in Seattle today convicted 34-year-old Seattle resident Leon Henderson of three counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Leon Henderson was arrested by Seattle Police in January, May, and September 2023. Each time Henderson had more than a thousand fentanyl pills, and on two of the arrests he had loaded firearms. The jury deliberated about five hours before reaching the guilty verdict following a three-day trial. U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead has not yet scheduled a sentencing date.

In the trial’s opening statement Assistant United States Attorney Jin Kim described how “Leon Henderson on the streets in his car was essentially a mobile office, from which he was selling drugs.”

According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, on January 25, 2023, Henderson was contacted at his car, parked outside the Park Plaza Motel on Aurora. He had $2770 cash in his pocket. When the car was searched, law enforcement found around 600 grams methamphetamine, 1,700 fentanyl pills, 200 grams of fentanyl powder, and a loaded pistol under the driver’s seat. Henderson’s DNA was on the pistol and on a second gun found in a bag with the narcotics.

On May 5, 2023, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, Henderson was contacted by Seattle Police and was found to have about 7,000 fentanyl pills, a firearm, and cash.

And finally on September 13, 2023, Henderson was arrested in Ballard near a homeless encampment. Henderson possessed a backpack with nearly 10,000 fentanyl pills.

In closing argument Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Manca noted that in the Ballard arrest police observed people coming and going to Henderson’s car window to purchase fentanyl pills “like he was selling coffee out of a drive-through.”

Henderson faces a mandatory minimum 20 years for the crimes of conviction. Ten years for the drug possession counts and a consecutive five years for each of the drug-related firearm counts.

Henderson was also found to illegally possess the firearms due to his previous felony convictions for promoting prostitution and felony harassment.

The case was investigated by the Seattle Police and the FBI as part of an emphasis on crime in the North Aurora area. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives provided key assistance.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jessica Manca, Jin Kim, and Carolyn Forstein.

Seattle – A 44-year-old Tacoma resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years in prison for his high-level role in a multi-state drug trafficking conspiracy announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Michael Young Jr pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances on July 7, 2025. Young was a high-level member of a group that distributed more than 800,000 fentanyl pills throughout the United States, including in Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Montana, and Georgia. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead noted that fentanyl kills indiscriminately – experienced users, first time users, kids, and parents. “Every pill you moved was a loaded gun – the sentence needs to hold you accountable for the lives you endangered.”

According to the indictment and other records in the case, the drug ring was led by Marquis Jackson, 32, who lived in both Atlanta and the Renton, Washington home of his parents, defendants Mandel Jackson, 51, and Matelita (Marty) Jackson, 50. Also linked to the Renton family home were defendants Markell Jackson, 22, and Miracle Patu-Jackson, 23. Members of the Jackson family are indicted for various conspiracy counts including drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies. Records filed in the case link some of the Jacksons to a Seattle area street gang.

Over the course of the investigation law enforcement seized more than 846,000 fentanyl pills, nearly 7 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 7 kilograms of cocaine and 29 firearms. They also seized more than $116,000 in cash.

In Whatcom County, teams led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrested four people on criminal complaints for fentanyl distribution. According to the complaints, the Whatcom drug traffickers were linked by phone communication and surveillance to the Jackson drug trafficking organization.

In September 2023, four tribal citizens in Whatcom County died of fentanyl overdose within a period of just four days, prompting the Lummi Indian Business Council to declare a state of emergency in response to the escalating fentanyl crisis.

Tribal and federal partners examined the phone of one of the overdose victims and found connections to the Jackson Drug Trafficking Organization.  DEA, the Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have continued to work closely with the Lummi Nation Police to identify additional members of this drug trafficking organization with the goal of stopping the flow of fentanyl into Indian Country and elsewhere.

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.

These investigations and prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159. 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.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, (Seattle, Phoenix, Atlanta, Kansas City, Dallas, Las Vegas, Montana), DEA (Seattle, Kansas City, Wichita, Montana), the Seattle Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Office, Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force, the Lummi Police Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and United States Border Patrol Blaine Sector Targeting and Intelligence Division.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Zach Dillon, Crystal Correa, and Michael Harder.

Seattle – Two long-term investigations in the Western District of Washington wrapped up in October 2025 with multiple arrests and significant seizures of narcotics and firearms, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. This afternoon, Jose Isabel Sandoval Zuniga, 30, of Sammamish, Washington who served as a primary source of firearms for one of the groups, is being arraigned on gun and drug charges returned by the grand jury earlier this month.

“These successful law enforcement investigations will no doubt save lives – lives that could be lost to fentanyl overdoses or gun violence,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Law enforcement carefully worked its way up the drug distribution chain to find those responsible. In one case they found multiple family members leading the distribution ring, in the other they found drug and gun distribution intertwined with illegal cockfighting and an improvised explosive.”

“Both of these groups showed a callous disregard for our communities, sometimes even bringing their young children along, as they peddled poison and dangerous firearms.” said David F. Reames, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division.  “Our teams seized a staggering 3.4 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl from these two groups, enough poison to kill every person alive in King County.  I am very proud of DEA and our team for ending this menace.”

The first takedown occurred on October 16, 2025, following a ten-month investigation. In December 2024, one of the leaders of the drug distribution ring, Carlos Gutama Escandon, 30, of Renton was stopped by Tulalip Tribal Police in Marysville and had fentanyl pills,

 fentanyl powder and cash in his car. Over the following months law enforcement made undercover buys from the ring and surveilled drug deliveries and money laundering activity.  The core group, the Gutama Escandon family, are originally from Ecuador.

In all, eight people have been charged in the case:

Oliver Gutama Escandon, 21, Renton, Washington

Josselin Gutama Escandon, 23, Renton, Washington

Henry Gutama Escandon, 34, Renton, Washington

Carlos Gutama Escandon, 30, Renton, Washington

Jessica Gutama Escandon, 32, Renton, Washington

Andres Giraldo Arias, 34, Renton, Washington

Stalyn Quezada Gutama, 23, Renton, Washington

Artur Shahnazaryan, 38, Redmond, Washington

In that drug investigation law enforcement seized four firearms, more than $220,000 in cash, two kilograms of fentanyl powder, three kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 36,000 fentanyl pills as well as smaller amounts of heroin and cocaine.

“This investigation demonstrates what we can accomplish through strong partnerships among local, state, and federal agencies,” said Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson. “What began with a proactive Tulalip Tribal Police traffic stop and continued through an extensive undercover operation by the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, resulted in the takedown of a drug trafficking organization operating across the Puget Sound region. Disrupting organizations like this directly reduces the supply of fentanyl and heroin in our communities. I am extremely proud of the dedication, persistence, and coordination by every agency involved, and we will continue working together to keep our neighborhoods safe and hold drug traffickers accountable.”

The second takedown occurred October 28, 2025, with ten arrests. The arrests were the culmination of a year-long investigation by area law enforcement officers. In the arrest operation on October 28, law enforcement seized approximately 105,000 fentanyl pills, 34 kilos of fentanyl powder, 3.7 kilos of methamphetamine, nearly a kilogram of heroin and 8.7 kilos of cocaine. Law enforcement also seized over $140,000 in cash.

Two men, Jose Isabel Sandoval Zuniga, and Edgar Rivas Robles, 33 of Centralia, Washington are tied to a rural property in Lewis

 Country where law enforcement unearthed an improvised explosive device and an illegal cockfighting operation. The structure on the property contained 25 kilos of suspected fentanyl powder, more than 90,000 fentanyl pills and two dozen firearms. Zuniga was arrested in his vehicle with 1.6 kilos of suspected fentanyl. At Sandoval Zuniga’s Sammamish home investigators seized heroin, fentanyl, and a loaded .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol.

These defendants have now been indicted on various drug distribution and illegal firearms charges:

Luis Humberto Lamas-Guzman, 25, of Lynnwood, Washington

Eduardo Villavicencio-Salido, 44, of Marysville, Washington

Silvestre Ramos Martinez, 35, of Everett, Washington

Jose Navarro Hernandez “Robert”, 46, of Marysville, Washington

Jose Manuel Ramos Ibarra “Kora”, 28, of Everett, Washington

Marisol Perez-Diaz, 23, of Auburn, Washington

Jordan Martinez Gamez, 23, of Auburn, Washington

Jose Isabel Sandoval Zuniga, 30, of Sammamish, Washington

Roni Licona Escoto, 56, of Seattle

Edgar Rivas Robles, 33, of Centralia, Washington

The charges contained in the indictments 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.

“These suspects were trafficking and distributing dangerous drugs throughout Seattle,” said Seattle Police Assistant Chief Nicole Powell. “The City of Seattle and the region around the city are safer because of the fantastic work done by SPD and our federal partners.”

“Getting illegal drugs and guns off our streets is not just a win on paper; it is a real, tangible win for everyone in our communities,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office. “We are proud that our combined efforts are making a real difference in people’s lives, and we will continue to work tirelessly with our partners to make our streets safer for all.”

These investigations and prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159. 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.

Both investigations were led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in partnership with Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the Seattle Police Department, the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, and the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (NW HIDTA).

These agencies assisted in the law enforcement operation on October 16, 2025: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Tulalip Police Department.

These agencies assisted in the law enforcement operation on October 28, 2025: Seattle Police Department, North Sound Metro, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol, Centralia Police Department, U.S Customs & Border Protection, the King County Sheriff’s Office and Valley SWAT comprised of officers from the Renton, Federal Way, Kent, Auburn, Tukwila, Des Moines and Port of Seattle police departments. 

Seattle – A 34-year-old prominent member of a Seattle street gang was ordered detained today in U.S. District Court in Seattle, following his October indictment on three federal felonies, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Leanthony Palmer is scheduled for trial on sex trafficking, transportation for purpose of prostitution, and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges on December 22, 2025. Today Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida ordered him detained at the Federal Detention Center pending trial.

According to records filed in the case, Palmer is an acknowledged member of the Family Mafia Crips (FMC) street gang. He uses the moniker ‘Highway Tone.’ Palmer repeatedly posts online about his sex trafficking business and is in images with firearms and cash. His car, a 2017 Maserati Levante SUV, has been connected to drug trafficking activity. 

Evidence obtained during the course of the investigation revealed that Palmer uses social media to recruit potential victims, promising them international travel and financial benefits.  Palmer’s social media posts, videos, and text and phone communications contain statements by him in which he admits to assaulting victims. In March 2025, law enforcement responded after Palmer was alleged to have assaulted an adult victim who was trying to leave him by beating her and strangling her to unconsciousness.  Palmer has arrests in Nevada for domestic violence. He has been arrested in Idaho, Texas, and Massachusetts for illegal firearms possession.

The indictment alleges that Palmer was laundering money earned from sex trafficking in King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Whatcom Counties, as recently as October 8, 2025.

In asking that Palmer be detained prosecutors wrote to the court, “If Palmer is released from custody, the government believes that he will continue his pattern of violence to intimidate or silence victims and witnesses. Agents have interviewed multiple of Palmer’s prior sex workers during this investigation. They all expressed significant fear of reprisal if they were to cooperate.”

The Magistrate Judge ruled there were no conditions that could be imposed on Palmer that would keep the community safe if he were released from custody.

If convicted of all counts Palmer faces 15 years to life in prison.

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.

This case 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. The HSTF 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), and the 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.

The case is being investigated by the Seattle Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Whatcom Regional Drug Task Force.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Zachary Dillon and Kate Crisham. 

Seattle – A 38-year-old former Seattle resident was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for producing child sexual abuse imagery in his scheme to get images of sexually abused children from a coconspirator in Vietnam, announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Richard Stanley Maness Jr. was convicted in August 2025 of two federal felonies following a three-day jury trial. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones focused on the 4 and 7-year-old children sexually abused at Maness’ direction saying, “These victims were not candy in a dish for you to take out the one you liked…. In the mind of that 7-year-old you were a monster directing the pain she suffered.”

“In recommending this 30-year-prison sentence, our office is doing everything it can to protect innocent children here and overseas. Mr. Maness remains a danger, unable to accept the harm he has done,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Instead, he insists he is the victim, but the jury and the judge saw through Maness’s fabricated claims of innocence.”

According to records filed in the case, law enforcement in Vietnam rescued two young children who had been kidnapped off the street in April 2024. The mother of the two sisters was distraught when she could not find them. The young girls were taken to an Airbnb by Maness’ female coconspirator. Records showed Maness rented the apartment. Messages between Manness and the coconspirator documented him directing sexual abuse of a child as young as 6-years-old.  The coconspirator sent the images of the child sexual abuse to Maness over the internet. Maness had plans to travel to Vietnam for further child sexual abuse. Maness was arrested in a Seattle apartment after detectives in Vietnam contacted Homeland Security Investigations with information about the child kidnapping and abuse. Maness has remained in federal custody since his arrest on August 28, 2024.

Maness was convicted of conspiracy to produce child sexual abuse material and production of child sexual abuse material.

In asking for the 30-year sentence prosecutors wrote to the court, “What Maness did was monstrous. And that he refuses to accept responsibility and clings to a preposterous and wholly incredible story to justify his claims of innocence is beyond the pale. The threat he poses to children is thus grave, particularly given his unwillingness to admit that his sexual interest in children led him to perpetrate unspeakable harm. Lengthy incapacitation through imprisonment and close supervision for the remainder of his life once released must be the order of the day.” Judge Jones sentenced Maness to 20 years of supervised release following the prison term.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in cooperation with the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided crucial assistance in obtaining evidence overseas.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Hampton and Cecelia Gregson.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.