3-state investigation included raids of homes in Woodland
Three men who pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine are the last of 26 members of a large West Coast drug ring to enter guilty pleas, officials say.
The ring, operated by members of the Barragan family, smuggled hundreds of pounds of meth from Arteaga, Mexico, through California and into Western Washington, according to a bulletin from Colleen Bernier with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
The ring for years sold an unusually pure and highly addictive form of crystal meth in a wide area in Washington, including south Puget Sound, on the Olympic Peninsula and in Southwest Washington, according to The Columbian’s files.
In April 2008, three other members were arrested in raids of two homes in Woodland. Those three suspects had sold meth to customers in Clark and Cowlitz counties, officials said at the time.
After the arrest of the Woodland men, officials said a major investigation that began in 2004 had resulted in the seizure of 89 pounds of meth, 50 guns and $225,000 in cash around Washington.
About 300 officers with 30 law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation, obtaining 20 search warrants and court orders for 17 wiretaps, officials said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency assisted the interagency investigation in Washington, Oregon and California, the bulletin said.
The men who pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington were Fernando Barragan-Zepeda, 34, of Aberdeen; and Abraham Barragan-Zepeda, 48, and Rigoberto Garfias-Barragan, 37, both of Shasta Lake, Calif., the bulletin said.
They are to be sentenced in federal court on March 8 and could face lengthy prison terms, and heavy fines, for various crimes including conspiracy to distribute meth and being illegal aliens in possession of firearms.
Meanwhile, the situation involving meth in Clark County remains much the same as before, an official said.
Pounds of meth are still being smuggled here from Mexico, and meth cooks still make small amounts of meth here using cold pill ingredients, Sgt. Pat Moore with the Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force said Wednesday.
Meth is still considered the most destructive illegal drug in Clark County, and users often commit identity theft, forgery, car prowls and other crimes, Moore said.
