A 38-year-old Kent man received a 10-year prison sentence for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Omar Vazquez-Limon was arrested in August 2020 in northern California as he transported kilos of heroin and methamphetamine to Western Washington. Vazquez-Limon was indicted as part of a larger drug ring in December 2020.
At the sentencing hearing Tuesday, Aug. 29 in Seattle, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour imposed five years of supervised release to follow the prison term, according to an Aug. 29 U.S. Department of Justice news release.
“Mr. Vazquez-Limon’s drug trafficking widened the circles of those touched by the opioid epidemic, spreading meth, heroin and fentanyl in Western Washington,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “He not only trafficked narcotics, he was also a source of firearms for the drug ring. As we struggle with an increase in gun violence, those who arm themselves to protect their drug supply contribute to the problem.”
According to records filed in the case, Vazquez-Limon was a high-level distributor of narcotics who was in direct contact with suppliers in Mexico. Vazquez-Limon made multiple pound drug deals and often directed other drug ring members to make the deliveries or made the deliveries himself. In intercepted phone calls, Vazquez-Limon was heard arranging delivery of thousands of fentanyl pills and multi-pound amounts of methamphetamine. In one call, he said he had as much as 75 pounds of methamphetamine ready for distribution.
Members of the drug conspiracy distributed large amounts of methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine, smuggling the drugs into the U.S. from Mexico and then transporting them up the West Coast for distribution in Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In connection with this drug distribution ring, law enforcement seized 143 pounds of methamphetamine, 15 pounds of heroin, 35,000 fentanyl pills, 24 firearms, $778,000 and a bank account valued at $100,000.
Vazquez-Limon’s federal sentence will run concurrently with the Shasta County six-year sentence he received when arrested with a load of drugs in Northern California.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks, according to the news release.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Tacoma Residence Office in partnership with Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team, Kent Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, SeaTac Police Department, Tacoma Police Department, Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Internal Revenue Service. The investigation was supported by the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and the DEA Special Operations Division.
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