A 39-year-old Pierce County woman was sentenced to 84 months in prison for drug and gun possession, acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller for the Western District of Washington announced on Friday.
C'La Morales was arrested as part of a drug trafficking investigation of three interrelated drug distribution organizations tied to Aryan prison gangs operating inside and outside state prisons, according to a news release.
Morales was a member of a drug ring that trafficked fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine and possessed multiple firearms, according to court records filed in the case.
Wiretap evidence in the case revealed she was purchasing and distributing 10 ounces of heroin and 10,000 fentanyl pills at a time, according to the release.
Morales also was sentenced to five years of supervised release following prison.
Two others with ties to Morales are set to be sentenced.
Jesse Bailey, who prosecutors describe as a "top-level leader of the drug trafficking ring," is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16. His wife and co-conspirator, Candace Bailey, is scheduled for sentencing on June 13.
The Morales prosecution is one of some two dozen related to an investigation of South Sound-based drug trafficking rings, according to the news release.
In March 2023, law enforcement made two dozen arrests on federal charges.
The effort involved 10 SWAT teams and more than 350 law enforcement officers, according to the release. They seized 177 firearms, more than 10 kilos of methamphetamine, 11 kilos of fentanyl pills and more than a kilo of fentanyl powder, three kilos of heroin, and more than $330,000 in cash from 18 locations in Washington and Arizona.
Earlier in the investigation, law enforcement seized 830,000 fentanyl pills, 5.5 pounds of fentanyl powder, 223 pounds of methamphetamine, 3.5 pounds of heroin, 5 pounds of cocaine, $388,000 in cash, and 48 firearms, according to the release.
This investigation was led by the FBI with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the state Department of Corrections, Tacoma Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff's Office and the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force.
Primary investigators also received help from Washington State Patrol, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, Lewis County Sheriff's Office, Lakewood Police Department, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
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