Spokane - Joseph H. Harrington, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that today Chief United States District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Aren Lee Perryman, aka Filthy, age 32, of Spokane, Washington, to a 30-year term of imprisonment after pleading guilty to Trafficking in Methamphetamine and Heroin; Possessing and Using Firearms in Connection with Drug Trafficking; and Intimidating and Threatening Witnesses. Chief Judge Rice accepted the agreed upon sentence presented by the parties which included 10 years of supervised release to follow his 30-year term of incarceration.
In September 2015, Perryman, the leader/organizer of a drug conspiracy responsible for trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin from Arizona into the Eastern District of Washington, was arrested with several co-defendants. The investigation resulted in the seizure of over 35 pounds of methamphetamine, 8 pounds of heroin, and multiple firearms. Perryman was also directly tied to a number of drive-by shootings that occurred in Spokane in the summer of 2015 and linked to a local overdose death in 2015. After Perryman was arrested, he attempted to retaliate against the local law enforcement officer he deemed responsible for his arrest.
At sentencing, Chief Judge Rice noted the damaging impact of the Defendant’s actions to this community to include the corresponding violence associated with his drug trafficking activities.
Acting United States Attorney Joseph Harrington said, “The heroin epidemic in this country is a real concern and sadly our community is not immune from its destruction." Harrington went on to add, “this case highlights the joint commitment, dedication, and partnership between our state
and federal partners to combat this problem and the accompanying violence associated with trafficking such dangerous drugs into our community. Of additional significance, is the prevention of additional crimes of violence especially those that target our dedicated law enforcement officers."
This case was conducted as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, which included the Drug Enforcement Administration (Spokane Resident Office and Seattle Field Division); the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force; Idaho State Police; and the Spokane Police Department. The OCDETF program provides supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved in the investigation of drug-related crimes.
The investigation also included the participation of numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies, including Drug Enforcement Administration (Boise, Idaho); Federal Bureau of Investigation (Spokane, Washington); the Unified Police Department (Salt Lake City, Utah); Montana Department of Criminal Investigations (Kalispell, Montana) and Northwest HIDTA.
The case was prosecuted by Caitlin Baunsgard and Stephanie Van Marter, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of Washington in partnership with the United States Attorneys Offices in the Districts of Idaho and Utah.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
