Globe staff
Seven people from Marysville were arrested Nov. 5 after a two-year investigation of a major heroin and meth trafficking ring in King and Snohomish counties.
Twelve people in all were arrested, ranging in age from 20 to 57 and including people from Port Angeles to Fresno, Calif.
Tiffany Kenney dropped her son off at the bus stop and watched as Drug Enforcement Agency agents and Snohomish County deputies served a search warrant on her neighbor’s home in the Lakewood Commons neighborhood of Marysville. Deputies arrested two women and four men in the house.
“They’re actually new. They just moved in about within the last two weeks,” she said.
It was one of 10 locations searched in King and Snohomish counties. Law enforcement seized 14 pounds of heroin, 43 pounds of methamphetamine, a large sum of cash and eight handguns.
The Justice Department said in the two years of the investigation, law enforcement seized more than 50 pounds of heroin and more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine. Over $1.1 million involved in the operation also was seized.
The DEA-led task force worked with the Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force and Seattle Police.
“Heroin and methamphetamine seizures have skyrocketed in the Pacific Northwest and are troubling,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Keith Weis said. “Today, we crippled a transnational criminal organization with tentacles in our area. We remain focused on removing those who supply narcotics to the violent distribution networks destroying our communities.”
All of those charged made their initial appearance in federal court Thursday. The defendants in custody from Marysville include: Jose Manuel Estrada-Contreras, 33; Francisco Javier Munoz-Contreras, 26; Adrian Ortega-Gonzalez, 20; Tracy Raley, 34; Luis Zamudio-Rivera, 37; Gladys Morales-Garibay, 26; and Juan Gerardo Ruiz, 30.
“Heroin and methamphetamine remain significant threats to the health of our communities. This group was transporting and distributing large quantities of both drugs up through California and into King and Snohomish counties,” U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said. “I commend the DEA-led task force that worked diligently to identify those in this distribution chain so that they can be held accountable for spreading these poisons in the Puget Sound region.”
