A Ridgefield man was sentenced Friday to 13 years in federal prison for drug and gun crimes in connection with a white supremacist prison gang.
Ronaldo McComb, 59, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma after he pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was one of 27 people indicted by a grand jury in March 2023 in connection with a drug-trafficking ring tied to the Aryan Family prison gang, according to the Department of Justice.
“We are talking about massive quantities of controlled substances,” Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said in a news release. “This is not some street-level dealer. … The amount of societal harm from these substances is almost immeasurable.”
The indictment states McComb distributed fentanyl Jan. 30, 2023, in Clark County and possessed fentanyl and heroin with intent to distribute Feb. 7, 2022, in Lewis County.
McComb was arrested March 22, 2023. Authorities found methamphetamine, heroin, three firearms and large amounts of cash and gold bars in McComb’s Kalama home, according to the news release. As part of his plea, McComb stipulated to the forfeiture of that cash and gold.
McComb acknowledged multiple recorded phone calls with co-conspirators in which he discussed his drug-trafficking activities, which involved distributing multiple pounds of methamphetamine and tens of thousands of fentanyl pills, according to the Department of Justice.
He also admitted to possessing large quantities of heroin and a 9 mm handgun that law enforcement seized from the trunk of his vehicle following a traffic stop in February 2022. McComb was prohibited from possessing firearms due to his felony convictions for assault and robbery in Clark County and another assault conviction in Cowlitz County, the news release states.
The FBI investigated the gang McComb was a part of, and just a year into the investigation, officers seized 830,000 fentanyl pills, 5½ pounds of fentanyl powder, 223 pounds of methamphetamine, 3½ pounds of heroin, 5 pounds of cocaine, $388,000 in cash and 48 firearms, a previous Department of Justice news release states.
