WA man sentenced to 10 years for role as ‘right hand’ of drug gang

SEATTLE – A man from Monroe, Washington, was sentenced to ten years in prison for being the “right-hand man” of a deadly opioid trafficking operating throughout Western Washington.

Humberto Garcia, 42, was convicted Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Garcia was arrested in December 2020 along with seven others in connection with the criminal ring, which prosecutors say distributed heroin, meth and fentanyl around Puget Sound.

“Despite the fact that you were an addict, you were involved in the distribution of very dangerous drugs,” Judge Jones said during Garcia’s sentencing hearing. “You were a willing and capable participant with loyalty to the drug gang leader.”

Garcia supplied a weapon to the operation’s leader, Jose Luis Ibarra-Valle, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2023. Ibarra-Valle needed the gun to kill another dealer who owed him money. Ibarra-Valle was stopped by authorities in California after returning from a drug raid, and police found some 10,000 fentanyl pills, more than eight kilos of meth and more than a kilo of heroin.

“Mr. Garcia played a significant role in the conspiracy, acting as a drug redistributor, local guide, interpreter and conduit to other drug dealers,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “He continued to distribute fentanyl even after learning of a customer overdose death. His conduct has contributed to the massive spike in fentanyl overdoses in our community.”

Garcia is the last of eight people convicted in the case and was the only case to go to trial, prosecutors say.

“The wiretaps showed that Ibarra-Valle had excellent connections to drug supply sources in California and/or Mexico, but little to no local knowledge of the drug market or customers here in Western Washington and no English skills. Garcia, on the other hand: knew the area, knew the local drug market, and spoke both English and Spanish. As such, he was ideally positioned to help Ibarra-Valle sell his product here in this district… Garcia’s possession of a firearm naturally increased the danger he posed. the community,” prosecutors wrote to the court.

After his 10-year term, Garcia will serve five years of supervised release.

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