SEATTLE, Wash. — Earlier this month, the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) sentenced 69-year-old John Michael Sherwood to 15 years in prison for attempting to smuggle over 300 pounds of drugs to Canada.
Sherwood, a former resident of Rhode Island, Texas, and Chicago, was sentenced in Seattle on July 17, after being convicted back in April 2026.
Sherwood was convicted of three federal felonies -- conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to commit international money laundering -- according to a release by the USAO.
According to that same release, Sherwood attempted to use the Strait of Juan de Fuca to smuggle duffle bags filled with 300 pounds of meth and almost a kilogram of fentanyl via jet ski and inflatable raft.
It also notes that Sherwood brought the drugs up from California and stashed them along the Olympic Peninsula with the intention to transport them to a contact along Vancouver Island’s coast.
The smuggling attempt was reported to law enforcement over five years ago, when one of the duffel bags was discovered by a local family.
On April 7, 2021, a family close to Port Angeles discovered a “partially submerged duffel bag” along the beach. After reporting it to police, officers found over 50 pounds of meth and two pounds of fentanyl inside.
Shortly after, a separate person located a “Zodiac-style” raft deflated on the beach. The same person notified police that a U-Haul van had been going back and forth from the area.
Days later, on April 11, 2021, a person walking along the beach found an additional seven duffel bags hidden under a bridge. 252 pounds of meth, worth over a million dollars, were sitting inside.
The FBI eventually traced Sherwood’s duffel bags to Walmart, where he used his personal debit card and was caught on the store’s cameras. They also located his U-Haul rental records, local motel bills, and phone records, which indicated communications with a Canadian coconspirator.
“The eight large duffel bags of methamphetamine found on the beach near Port Angeles are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this defendant’s drug smuggling,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said. “Evidence uncovered in the case show he made multiple drug runs to the Washington/British Columbia border to connect with his coconspirator in Canada. Over five decades he racked up five federal felonies. This 15-year sentence is the result of his persistent and entrenched criminal behavior.”