May 8—Federal agents have broken up a major drug ring with 21 suspects facing charges and the seizure of enough fentanyl to kill a sold-out Spokane Arena twice over.
Those arrested included the leader of the Iron Horse motorcycle gang.
The agents seized 16,000 fentanyl pills, more than 5.5 pounds of fentanyl powder, 14 pounds of meth, one kilogram of heroin, four cars, 36 guns and $60,000 in drug money during an investigation that began in October. They also filed a civil forfeiture action on a five-unit apartment complex near North Central High School that agents allege was used to distribute drugs, the Eastern Washington’s U.S. District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release. In the past 21/2 years, police have been called to the apartment complex 58 times.
Acting U.S. Attorney Richard Barker said during a media conference that among the 21 defendants, one used their 12-year-old child to traffic fentanyl. Another defendant’s child overdosed on the drug supply, he said.
“(They) decided to traffic poison into our community,” Barker said. “This is a public safety emergency.”
The agents described the defendants as “operating in what has become nothing less than an open-air drug market on Division Street downtown.”
Most of the defendants were known to local investigators. Those listed in federal custody include Andrew Auerbach, 36; Daryl Boone, 45; James Ferguson, 33; Jonathan Inglis, 40; Nathan Johnson, 44; James Lelacheur, 56; Christopher O’Neal; Gabriella Rizkalla; Roland Sanders, 36; Bernie Ray Shaw Jr., 56; Courtney Wheeler; Andrew Williams; and Anthony Williams.