MOUNT. VERNON, Wash. — According to www.bellinghamherald.com, three men were found guilty for being part of a drug ring that distributed heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine in Whatcom, Skagit, King and Snohomish counties.
Key members of the ring would often meet to conduct their deals at a carwash in Mount Vernon, and the investigation that ultimately nailed the ring was code-named “Operation Car Wash,” the article continued.
All three convicts face mandatory prison sentences of a minimum of 10 years and are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 16th, the article added.
Fourteen other co-conspirators who had been charged in the months following their arrests in November 2016 pleaded guilty; these suspects operated stash houses on Camano Island and in Mount Vernon as well as in Yakima and Franklin counties, and they had drug connections in Nevada and California, the article noted.
Operation Car Wash, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, investigated the drug ring in 2015 and early 2016, using “pole cameras, confidential sources, wiretaps and undercover officers to document the drug distribution activity and identify the leaders of the ring,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Whatcom Gang & Drug Task Force and Whatcom County Sherriff’s Office, in addition to other state and regional law enforcement, provided assistance in the federal investigation, the article concluded.
Read the original article here.
