WA fentanyl trafficker sold ‘exceptionally large volumes.’ He was based in Tri-Cities

A 26-year-old Tri-Cities leader in a large-scale, statewide fentanyl ring was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison this week after the judge said he showed no remorse.

Etzael Bejar-Cardenas fled the country when he saw on a security camera that police were raiding a Tri-Cities stash house, but he continued arranging local drug sales from Mexico.

He then returned to the United States with plans to expand fentanyl operations in the Tri-Cities, said U.S. Judge Mary Dimke in the Richland U.S. courthouse.

“It is clear the organization and the defendant were responsible for moving exceptionally large volumes (of illegal drugs) into the community,” said assistant U.S. attorney Caitlin Baunsgard, with the Eastern Washington U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Drug Enforcement Administration was investigating a fentanyl trafficking organization operating in both Eastern and Western Washington state, when Bejar-Carenas was identified as a distributor for the organization in the greater Tri-Cities area, according to court documents.

In July 2022, a cooperating defendant not named in court documents told federal agents that over the last one and a half years they had been buying 5,000 fentanyl pills from Bejar-Carenas every week or two.

The cooperating defendant’s phone showed that Bejar-Cardenas sent information on how to pay for a runner in the organization to bring 50,000 fentanyl pills to a stash house in Pasco.

Law enforcement used a confidential informant to arrange purchases of thousands of fentanyl pills in August and September 2022.

In September, Martin Mercardo-Gallardo, who had earlier delivered 3,000 pills ordered from Bejar-Cardenas to the confidential informant, was stopped in Los Angeles, Calif. Law enforcement found about 19,000 fentanyl pills in a hidden compartment in his car.

Earlier in 2022, warrants were served at two Tri-Cities stash houses used in the drug operation.

In March, a mobile home at 5007 Clearwater Ave. in Kennewick owned by Bejar-Cardenas’s mother was searched and guns and a small quantity of fentanyl were found, according to a court document.

There were guns under the beds of juveniles living in the house, and juveniles were flushing drugs during the search, Dimke said.

Later that day a stash house linked to Bejar-Cardenas at a mobile home park at 1505 South Road 40 East in Pasco was searched.

Police found 1,200 grams of fentanyl-laced pills, 100 grams of meth, two digital scales, drug packaging, three guns and ammunition, according to court documents.

The guns recovered in the searches were hand guns and assault rifles, which are commonly used to guard drug proceeds, Dimke said.

Fentanyl sales from Mexico

Bejar-Cardenas was watching the Kennewick search through a security camera and fled to Mexico for a few months, where he continued to arrange fentanyl sales, Dimke said.

The judge said he showed a lack of remorse for his actions, as indicated by by continuing Tri-Cities sales from Mexico and then returning to the Tri-Cities area with plans for larger sales. He refused to cooperate in the investigation, she said.

“There is a whole host of behaviors I found so concerning,” Dimke said.

After Bejar-Cardenas was arrested, he continued to help the drug operation by giving other inmates the phone number of an uncle in Seattle who could sell them fentanyl, she said.

Bejar-Cardenas’s mother fled Mexico to the United States with her children to escape cartel violence after Bejar-Carenas’ father was kidnapped, according to court documents.

Unfortunately, the family continued the same pattern of violence in the United States, as evidenced by the guns seized, Dimke said.

Bejar-Cardenas refused to provide evidence that would implicate his family members, even though it could have shortened his sentence, said his attorney, Christine Bennett of Richland.

But Dimke was not impressed, saying his lack of cooperation meant his family members could keep dealing drugs and harming the community.

Bejar-Cardenas addressed the judge briefly Thursday, saying in Spanish that he regrets what he has done and has learned his lesson.

His wife, who came to court with their young children, said he was a “great dad” and that having him in prison will be difficult for them.

Bejar-Cardenas attorney asked for a sentence of 10 years, and the prosecution recommended 15 years.

Dimke said she took Behar-Cardenas’s young age into consideration in ordering 15 years, rather than a longer sentence, and also ordered five years of probation.

Gorgonio Gallardo-Pedraza, who is accused of delivering 1,000 pills for a controlled buy from a confidential informant in the case, is also a defendant in the case.