Eleven people from Washington charged with trafficking meth, fentanyl

SEATTLE — Seventeen people in Washington and California have been charged in a federal indictment with trafficking in methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin brought into the U.S. from Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington said Wednesday.

Eleven of the suspects, including seven from Washington, were arrested Tuesday during a series of searches while six were arrested in September, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Tuesday’s arrests involved searches of 14 locations in Washington and California, which turned up more than 2 two kilos of fentanyl, 4.5 kilos of heroin, 10 pounds of methamphetamine and 67 firearms, according to the release.

“These individuals were bringing large loads of meth, heroin, fentanyl and cocaine from Mexico across the border and up I-5 to the Pacific Northwest,” said Seattle-based U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Those arrested were involved in what federal officials called three interconnected drug-trafficking groups, which have trafficked over 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills, the office said in a statement. Before Tuesday’s searches authorities had already seized 43 firearms, ammunition and more than $1 million in cash, the statement said.

The September arrests came after authorities served a search warrant following a wiretap investigation into a group allegedly led by Agustin Gutierrez Valencia, 32, of Kent, according to an indictment. Despite those arrests, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says the drug operation continued.

“Even when an RV loaded with drugs was pulled off the highway and seized by law enforcement, they weren’t deterred,” Brown said in the statement. “The wiretap revealed various organizations continued to recruit drivers and vehicles to transport their drugs throughout our District.”

The 11 people arrested Tuesday include Glauco Guardado Rodriguez, 25, of Seattle; Miguel Thomas, 33, of Tukwila; Tad Fulton, 48, of Seattle; Ryan Holmquist, 34, of Issaquah; Timothy Hursh, 38, of SeaTac; Ryan Terry, 44, of Duvall; and Abel Cruz, 32, of Des Moines.

Six other people indicted in September include four Washingtonians, including Gutierrez Valencia, who is accused of being a leader of a regional drug-trafficking organization, which is believed to have gotten narcotics from the Los Angeles area and redistributed them in the Seattle area.

Mexican drug-trafficking organizations grew in the late 1980s into their current size and scope after U.S. government agencies broke up Caribbean networks then used by Colombian cartels, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Drug-trafficking groups in Mexico dominate the import and distribution of several drugs, including fentanyl, into the U.S. and officials have made little progress in reducing the demand.