ARNOLDO MENDOZA RAMOS Sentenced

A 28-year-old Tacoma man, ARNOLDO MENDOZA RAMOS, has been sentenced to 130 months in prison for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Heroin and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Offense. The sentence was handed down in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.

RAMOS, a Mexican national, will likely be deported following his prison term. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton noted that heroin is a resurgent problem in Western Washington and a threat to communities.

According to records filed in the case, on four occasions in September and October 2013, RAMOS and his girlfriend, Ana L. Gaytan Torres, 38, distributed heroin to a person working with law enforcement. The heroin sales were made at various parking lots in Tacoma and Lakewood, Washington.

On October 24, 2013, law enforcement executed a search warrant at the couple’s Tacoma apartment, seizing 2.4 pounds of heroin. Some of the heroin was hidden in a freezer door, in a can marked as baby formula, in a macaroni and cheese box, and in a tub of beans. Inside an armrest of the couch, law enforcement found two handguns and additional heroin packaged for sale. In the bedroom closet, agents found a shotgun that had been reported stolen in Port Orchard, Washington. More than $18,000 in cash, eleven cell phones, and small amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine were also found in the apartment.

RAMOS pleaded guilty in June 2014. Torres pleaded guilty in May 2014 and will be sentenced in October 2014. The use of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense carries a mandatory minimum additional consecutive five-year sentence to the sentence imposed on the underlying drug offense.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bremerton Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Amy Jaquette and Grady Leupold. U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan stated, ‘Heroin is a growing public safety and public health problem. We will hold the people dealing death accountable.’