SPOKANE — Three men face federal drug charges after the Drug Enforcement Administration seized thousands of fentanyl pills and methamphetamine in Spokane.
Osvaldo Guadalupe Soto-Orduno, Jose Roman Lizarraga Gerardo and Jose Efrain Gonzalez Rodriguez were charged with conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture containing fentanyl and 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine late last month.
DEA investigators followed Lizarraga and Soto to a Spokane drug house where the pair carried a black bag inside the home, according to court documents. A short time later the men left and officers conducted a traffic stop.
Soto consented to a search of the car, police said. Inside officers found several large bundles of cash.
Investigators followed Gonzalez-Rodriguez, who left the house not long after. When investigators stopped him, they searched his car and found approximately 7,000 pills presumed to be fentanyl and 2 pounds of methamphetamine, according to court records.
A search of the house yielded another 61,000 pills presumed to be fentanyl, another 3 pounds of meth and a pound of cocaine, among other drugs and guns.
“The fentanyl epidemic is taking lives at an unprecedented pace,” U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref said in a statement. “My office is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to remove large quantities of deadly drugs from the streets and to disrupt drug networks.”
The investigation was conducted by the DEA with help from the Spokane Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement and Narcotics (RAVEN) task force and the U.S. Border Patrol.
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