A former attorney from Mexico was sentenced June 21 to 90 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced Monday.
Gustavo Castellanos-Tapia, 38, of Burien, was a significant supplier of meth to the drug trafficking organization with ties to the prison gang known as the “Aryan Family,” according to a United States Department of Justice news release.
This investigation was led by the FBI with critical investigative teamwork from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Washington state Department of Corrections, with significant local assistance from the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, led by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Tacoma Police Department and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Throughout this investigation, primary investigators were also assisted by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Patrol, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, Lakewood Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
In imposing Castellanos-Tapia’s sentence, Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo rejected arguments from the defense that Castellanos-Tapia played a minor role in the drug ring.
“Gustavo Castellanos-Tapia was identified as a significant supplier of meth to the drug trafficking organization. Law enforcement had Castellanos-Tapia under surveillance and learned that he would deliver suitcases full of methamphetamine — some 30-40 pounds at a time — every few weeks,” the Department of Justice said in a news release. “Unlike some drug ring participants who become involved to feed their addiction, Castellanos-Tapia was not a drug user. In fact, he previously worked as a lawyer in Mexico and came to the U.S. in 2020 when the pandemic stalled the economy. He obtained work as a boat painter but got into drug dealing to increase his income.”
Castellanos-Tapia and 23 other defendants were indicted and arrested in March 2023.
Over the course of the investigation, agents seized from members of the drug trafficking organization an estimated 255 pounds of methamphetamine, an estimated 830,000 fentanyl pills, more than 26 pounds of fentanyl powder, cocaine, 6 pounds of heroin, $668,000 in suspected drug proceeds and 225 firearms, according to the news release.
In asking for a nine-year prison sentence, prosecutors pointed out that despite a small decrease in overdose deaths nationwide, Washington had an increase in overdose deaths of over 27% in the year ending December 2023.
“Drugs like the methamphetamine that Castellanos-Tapia distributed have a devastating impact on the community,” prosecutors wrote. “Users of these drugs frequently resort to stealing — from family members, friends and complete strangers — to feed their addictions. No doubt, drug users are responsible for a large percentage of these crimes, as well as the violent crimes, in our communities.”
Because Castellanos-Tapia was not legally present in the United States, he likely will be deported following his prison term, according to a news release.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks, according to the news release.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Max Shiner and Zach Dillon.
