The leader of multi-state drug trafficking group was sentenced to 9 years in prison for distribution of fentanyl, meth and heroin.
Jose Luis Ibarra-Valle, 39, of Woodinville, Wash., was found to be transporting cocaine up from California to Oregon and Western Washington after the July 2020 initiation of wire taps on telephones, according to an April 7 news release. Police seized 16,000 fentanyl pills, 30 pounds of methamphetamine and six pounds of heroin during the course of the investigation, which began in March 2020.
“During the investigation, Mr. Ibarra-Valle was heard on the wire tap talking about getting a firearm so he could go after drug customers who owed him money," DOJ Attorney Nick Brown said in the release. "And when Mr. Ibarra-Valle learned someone had died from his fentanyl laced pills, he wasn’t worried about selling deadly pills, instead he only complained that the death would cause increased law enforcement scrutiny.”
In October 2022, Ibarra-Valle was apprehended by police carrying 10,000 fentanyl tablets, 20 pounds of methamphetamine and more than a kilo of heroin, the release reported.
Prosecutors cited the sharp rise in overdose fatalities in their request for a 10-year sentence, the release said. About 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between June 2020 and May 2021, more than twice the amount of people who died from gun violence or road accidents in the U.S. during that time period, according to the Executive Summary of the Committee on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking's Final Report from February 2022.
Synthetic opioids were a factor in roughly two-thirds of these fatalities, or 170 each day, mostly among those between the ages of 18 and 45, the release reported.
This case includes an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation, according to the release. The highest-level criminal organizations that pose a threat to the U.S. are found, disrupted and destroyed by OCDETF using a multi-agency, prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven strategy. You can get more details on the OCDETF Program online.
The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force, Washington State Patrol, Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, U.S. Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, Skagit County Interlocal Drug Enforcement Unit, Lake Stevens Police Department and Tulalip Police Department collaborated with the Drug Enforcement Administration to lead the investigation.
