Manuel Garcia Hernandez was arrested in June 2024, following a wiretap investigation of a drug trafficking organization importing methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine into the Seattle area from Mexico and Colombia.
The former owner of Mg General Construction LLC, Hernandez is reported to have lived in Renton for nearly two decades and to have raised a family in the city.
Law enforcement estimated Hernandez distributed ‘pound quantities’ of methamphetamine and cocaine - an amount, according to the National Library of Medicine that could have contained thousands of lethal doses.
The investigation leading to Hernandez’s arrest and sentencing was led by a Homeland Security Task force established by an executive order issued last year intended to crackdown in illegal immigration and drug trade.
During the arrest in June 2024, law enforced found heroin, loaded firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and 12 phones in Hernandez’s home and car.
According to a press release, between 2020 and 2024, the task force began investigation of a drug trafficking organization suspected of bringing drugs into the U.S. from Mexico and Colombia.
The investigation resulted in seizures of more than 32 kilograms of cocaine, 14 kilograms of methamphetamine, 83,000 fentanyl-laced pills, 3 kilograms of heroin, and 1 kilogram of fentanyl powder. Multiple firearms were seized including one from Hernandez’s home.
In a statement following Hernandez’s sentencing, First Assistant Attorney General Neil Floyd said that his prior conviction on DUI charges in 2022 should have raised more red flags for officials. He also said sanctuary policies that keep undocumented immigrants safe from deportation in some states, including Washington, should be reconsidered.
“He was previously convicted of crimes in Washington including a 2022 DUI, but sanctuary policies kept him from being turned over to federal immigration authorities,” Floyd said in a statement.
According to Special agent Charge Rob Saccone of Seattle’s branch of the Drug Enforcement Agency, his department tracked the source of Hernandez’s supply “all the way to the jungles of Columbia”.
According to the Washington State Department of Health, emergency services responded to over 30,000 instances of opioid overdoses across the state in the last two years. Of those cases, over 2,000 resulted in deaths.
Hernandez reportedly became the focus of the investigation when wiretaps were conducted in late 2023 revealing that he was cutting deals for large supplies of illegal narcotics.
The investigation also revealed that during his time distributing drugs in western Washington, he also planned the trade of heroin in Western Kentucky - a business investigators found he continued to participate in even after he learned that his co-conspirators had been arrested.
Hernandez’s case and others in this investigation are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joe Silvio and C. Andrew Colasurdo in the Western District of Washington.