A Renton, Washington resident was sentenced to an additional five years in prison for drug trafficking after failing to report to serve a previous federal sentence. Humberto Lopez Rodriguez, 31, a citizen of Mexico, had been previously sentenced to five years for drug trafficking but did not surrender as required. He was arrested in December 2023 while traveling from California to Washington with 13 kilograms of cocaine and a loaded firearm.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Tana Lin ordered that the new sentence run consecutively with his prior term. Judge Lin told Lopez Rodriguez: “You committed this crime after you failed to surrender to corrections…. You’ll be deported after serving your sentence and the American Dream is dead for you.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller commented on the case: “This defendant continued to deal drugs while on pretrial release and later was arrested in a car with a drug load when he should have been serving his federal sentence. Such conduct – ignoring our laws and criminal justice system – appropriately results in additional prison time.”
Lopez Rodriguez’s arrest came during an investigation into drug traffickers connected to Mexico and Colombia. In June 2024, law enforcement agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Seattle Police Department, and IRS Criminal Investigation executed 24 search or arrest warrants as part of their efforts. By that time, Lopez Rodriguez was already incarcerated following his earlier arrest.
During the investigation, authorities seized significant quantities of illegal drugs and assets: 84,000 fentanyl pills, over one kilogram of fentanyl powder, 32 kilograms of cocaine, 15 kilograms of methamphetamine, nearly three kilograms of heroin, 18 firearms, and $71,000 in cash proceeds.
Out of sixteen individuals charged in connection with this operation so far, five have pleaded guilty. Ramon Duarte Garcia received a ten-year sentence; Curtis McDaniel was sentenced to five years; Jose Luis Villafañe Osorio has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing; Manuel Garcia Hernandez has also pleaded guilty with sentencing scheduled.
Prosecutors highlighted local overdose statistics when seeking a six-year sentence for Lopez Rodriguez. They noted that King County saw 1,044 fatal overdoses in 2024 alone. In the first seven months of 2025 there were at least 541 confirmed overdose deaths with another 47 suspected cases. Cocaine played a role in about one-quarter of those deaths—often combined with fentanyl.
The case is part of Operation Take Back America—a national Justice Department initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration and dismantling transnational criminal organizations through coordinated law enforcement efforts such as those by OCDETF and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). More information about these initiatives can be found at https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.
The DEA and Seattle Police Department are leading the ongoing investigation alongside other agencies including Renton Police Department; Centralia Police Department; Homeland Security Investigations; HUD Office of Inspector General; Washington State Patrol; Pierce County SWAT; Valley SWAT teams; Colombian National Police; Colombian Prosecutor’s Office; and the Justice Department’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of Judicial Attaché in Bogotá.
Assistant United States Attorneys Joe Silvio and C. Andrew Colasurdo are prosecuting these cases for the Western District of Washington.
