SEATTLE — The U.S. Attorney’s Office says a Tacoma man was sentenced to five years in prison after attempting to traffic 28 pounds of meth during a traffic stop.
Rogelio Pena was one of 13 people accused of trafficking large amounts of drugs following an 18-month wiretap investigation.
The group used rental cars to transport drugs to the Seattle area, but later began using buses after numerous traffic stops.
These stops included one involving Pena, during which 28 pounds of cocaine were seized in June 2023.
Another incident occurred in April 2024, when the Portland Police Department found more than 16 pounds of fentanyl-laced pills in a bag abandoned by the group at a local bus station.
Police eventually arrested the group in May 2024.
During the investigation, authorities recovered more than 178 pounds of meth, nearly 110 pounds of fentanyl pills, and 33 pounds of cocaine.
W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office, spoke about Pena’s importance to the group’s operation, saying, “Pena and his co-conspirators were caught trafficking kilogram quantities of illegal drugs into Washington state on multiple occasions in 2023 and 2024.”
“Today’s sentence holds Mr. Pena accountable for his role in this conspiracy that threatened our communities with dangerous drugs and high-powered firearms,” Herrington said.
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