SPOKANE, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Aurelio James Gonzalez, 30, of Kennewick Washington was sentenced in federal court in Spokane for two counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine. Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian sentenced Gonzales...

YAKIMA, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that a federal grand jury has indicted Susen Ann Gorst, age 34, of Toppenish, Washington. The federal indictment charges Gorst with Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl, Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Sean Robert Wathen, 50, was sentenced in United States District Court for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill sentenced Wathen to 138 months in prison and ordered him to serve an additional five years of supervised release. According to court records and...

SEATTLE – A legally blind rapper who was profiled in an Amazon Prime documentary, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to six years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Wayne Frisby aka ‘Mac Wayne,’37, of Snohomish County, Washington was arrested in December 2020, for his role...

SPOKANE, Wash – On Thursday, Scott Banchero, age 58, of Kirkland, Washington, was charged by federal criminal complaint with Possession with Intent to Distribute 500 Grams or More of a Mixture or Substance Containing a Detectable Amount of Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(viii), according to Vanessa R...

BOISE, Idaho - A Wilder, Idaho man was sentenced to 124 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. According to court records, James Donavan Conour, 44, of Wilder, sold another person one pound of methamphetamine in exchange for $3,000 on January 21...

POCATELLO, Idaho – Melvin Misael Alcaraz-Valdez, of Declo, Idaho, was sentenced to federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit, today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Alcaraz-Valdez to 135 months. 11 years, 3 months. Alcaraz-Valdez, upon completion of his time...

SEATTLE – A top leader of a violent international drug trafficking organization that distributed heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine in the Puget Sound region, pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Luis Arturo Magana-Ramirez, 34, of Fife, Washington, faces a mandatory minimum ten years in prison and up...

SEATTLE – The Arlington, Washington based leader of a prolific and violent drug trafficking ring pleaded guilty this week to federal drug, gun, and money laundering crimes, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Cesar Valdez-Sanudo, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and carrying...

TACOMA, Wash. – Multiple members of a methamphetamine trafficking ring were indicted last week in U.S. District Court for seven federal felonies related to their drug trafficking, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Some of the conspirators, have been charged in state court over the last ten years, but fled the...