Washington man sentenced to 10 years in prison for role as drug ring's 'right hand man'

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 ring in western Washington.

Humberto Garcia, 42, was convicted Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Garcia was arrested in December 2020 along with seven others in connection with the crime gang that distributed heroin, meth and fentanyl around Puget Sound, according to prosecutors.

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

Garcia provided a gun 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 binge, and police found about 10,000 fentanyl pills, more than eight kilograms of meth and more than a kilogram of heroin.

“Mr. Garcia played an important role in the conspiracy, acting as a drug distributor, local guide, interpreter and liaison to other drug dealers,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “He continued to distribute fentanyl even after learning of a customer’s overdose death. His behavior contributed to the huge increase in fentanyl overdoses in our community.”

Garcia is the last of the eight people to be convicted in the case, and it was the only case that went to trial, prosecutors say.

“The wiretap revealed that Ibarra-Valle had excellent connections to drug supply sources in California and/or Mexico, but had little to no local knowledge of the drug market or customers here in Western Washington and no proficiency in English. Garcia, on the other hand, knew the area, knew the local drug market and spoke both English and Spanish. Therefore, he was ideally suited to assist Ibarra-Valle in selling his product here in this county…Garcia's possession of a firearm “naturally increased the danger he posed to the community,” prosecutors wrote to the court.

After his 10-year term, Garcia will be on supervised release for five years.

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