TACOMA, Wash. — A 44-year-old Puyallup resident who served as a key narcotics distributor for a drug trafficking organization tied to two white prison gangs was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced.
Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo imposed the sentence on Daniel Hammond, who was convicted at trial in February of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. “These substances have wreaked havoc in our communities…. We are not dealing with someone who is just an addict who committed a petty crime, this was not just a one-time decision… the history shows you had a lifestyle living off of this type of conduct,” Estudillo said at the sentencing hearing.
Hammond distributed multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills weekly throughout the Tacoma area as a key associate of Yehoshua Kilp, a leader of one of three branches of the trafficking organization. Kilp was sentenced to 14 years in prison a year ago. “Mr. Hammond had the ability to order up multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills that he then sold throughout the Tacoma area,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. “Even after his arrest in this case, Hammond reached out to a drug supplier in Mexico seeking to do more deals while he was on pretrial release. This lengthy sentence is needed to stop his distribution of potentially deadly narcotics in our community.”
The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration launched the two-year, multi-agency investigation in March 2023, targeting drug trafficking by members and associates of the Aryan Family and Omerta prison gangs across Western Washington and other states. Over the course of the probe, agents seized an estimated 223 pounds of methamphetamine, an estimated 830,000 fentanyl pills, multiple-pound quantities of fentanyl powder, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, $338,000 in suspected drug proceeds, and 48 firearms. During coordinated arrests, law enforcement seized an additional 22 pounds of methamphetamine, 26 pounds of fentanyl in pill and powder form, six pounds of heroin, more than $330,000 in suspected drug proceeds, and 177 firearms.
“Mr. Hammond played a key role in a widespread and lethal conspiracy to traffic vast amounts of dangerous drugs into Washington state, personally redistributing multiple pounds of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills on a weekly basis,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “Alongside our partners, the FBI will continue to seek out every avenue to protect our communities from toxic illicit substances and those who traffic in them.”
DEA Seattle Field Division Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Saccone called the case part of a broader effort to dismantle criminal organizations profiting from addiction. “Daniel Hammond helped fuel a criminal enterprise that flooded our communities with methamphetamine and fentanyl while enriching a violent prison gang,” Saccone said. “Every trafficker brought to justice and every pound of drugs seized moves us closer to a Fentanyl Free America.”
The investigation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, a multi-agency partnership targeting criminal cartels and transnational criminal organizations. Prosecutors had sought a 188-month sentence. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Zach Dillon, Max Shiner, and Jehiel Baer, with investigative work led by the FBI alongside the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the Washington State Department of Corrections, the Tacoma Police Department, and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.