Two Seattle area men, including one from Kent, were sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle for drug and gun crimes tied to trafficking in Seattle’s International District and homeless encampments along I-5, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
Sang Tran, 55, of Kent, was sentenced to 66 months in prison. Isai Gamboa Pacheco, 56, of Everett, was sentenced to six years in prison, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd announced Thursday.
“Both these defendants had one job and one job only, selling large amounts of meth and cocaine for distribution in the areas of our community plagued by crime and unhoused, vulnerable people dealing with addiction,” Floyd said.
According to records filed in the case, the investigation began in November 2023, with Seattle police, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration focusing on organizations dealing fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin in Seattle homeless encampments and in International District drug trafficking areas, including 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street.
Tran was among the first defendants arrested in January 2025. During the first arrest operation, law enforcement seized 17 firearms and 23 kilos of a suspected narcotic powder, according to prosecutors.
Investigators said Tran was heard on a wiretap arranging to buy a pound of methamphetamine and redistribute it. When law enforcement searched his home, they found about 330 gross grams of cocaine, a loaded Tauris 12 shotgun, ammunition, cash, jewelry and Rolex watches, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Investigators also found two rifles in his garage.
Tran admitted he kept the guns to protect his drugs and drug proceeds, prosecutors said. He also pleaded guilty to money laundering for laundering tens of thousands of dollars through a nail salon.
Gamboa Pacheco was arrested in a second takedown connected to the same drug trafficking conspiracy. In March 2025, law enforcement seized 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 111 kilos of cocaine, 19 kilos of fentanyl powder, 250,000 fentanyl pills and four kilos of heroin. The street value of the drugs was nearly $3 million, according to prosecutors.
On May 29, 2025, law enforcement executed 16 search warrants in Federal Way, Tukwila, Kent, Seattle, Everett, Pacific, Vancouver, Issaquah, Woodlake, California, and Beaverton, Oregon. Investigators seized more than seven kilograms of cocaine, 18 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 57,000 fentanyl pills, 17 firearms and more than $353,000 in cash, prosecutors said.
Investigators said Gamboa Pacheco was heard on a wiretap making kilogram quantity cocaine deals. During a search of his residence, investigators recovered more than $16,000 in drug proceeds. In one of his vehicles, investigators found almost three kilograms of methamphetamine and an unloaded Colt AR15 rifle with a drum magazine.
Gamboa Pacheco pleaded guilty in March 2026 to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and being an alien in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors said he has no legal status in the United States and was previously removed to Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Tana Lin said at Gamboa Pacheco’s sentencing that he had returned to drug trafficking despite a prior conviction.
“What you did contributed to that suffering,” Lin said, according to prosecutors.
The investigation was led by the FBI, Seattle Police Department and DEA, with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, Homeland Security Investigations and Washington National Guard Counterdrug Program. Investigators also worked with Oregon State Police and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey Conzatti and Brian Wynne.
