SEATTLE – A Monroe, Washington man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for serving as the “right-hand man” of a deadly opioid trafficking network operating in western Washington.

Humberto Garcia, 42, was convicted Friday in 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 crime ring, which prosecutors say distributed heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl around the Puget Sound.

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

Garcia provided a gun to the ringleader of the operation, Jose Luis Ibarra-Valle, who was sentenced in 2023 to nine years in prison. 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 deal, and police found approximately 10,000 fentanyl pills, more than eight kilograms of methamphetamine and more than a kilogram of heroin.

“Mr. Garcia played an important role in the conspiracy, acting as a drug redistributor, local guide, interpreter and liaison to other drug traffickers,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “He continued to distribute fentanyl even after learning that a customer had died of an overdose. His behavior has contributed to the huge increase 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 intercept revealed that Ibarra-Valle had excellent connections to drug supply sources in California and/or Mexico, but little or no local knowledge of the drug market or customers here in Western Washington and no knowledge of the English language. Garcia, on the other hand, knew the area, knew the local drug market and speaks both English and Spanish. As such, he was ideally positioned to help Ibarra-Valle sell his product here in this district… Of course, Garcia’s possession of a firearm increased the danger he posed. the community,” the court’s prosecutors wrote.

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

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