Woman with enough rainbow fentanyl pills to kill 10,000 is sentenced in Tri-Cities

Three Tri-Cities residents have been sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison for their involvement in selling fentanyl and other illicit drugs.

“Fentanyl has taken too many lives across the United States and right here in our community,” said Vanessa Waldref, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

Rainbow fentanyl in Tri-Cities

A Tri-Cities woman was sentenced to nine years in federal prison after admitting to buying 17,000 fentanyl pills the week before she was arrested.

Amy Lynn Loza, 38, pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute 400 grams or more of pills containing fentanyl.

The Tri-City Metro Drug Task Force and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration started an investigation into several suspected fentanyl dealers in the Tri-Cities area in October 2022, including Loza, according to federal court documents.

They searched a home she used at 1905 Hood Ave., Richland, and a bedroom she also rented at 1807 W. 31st Ave., Kennewick, and seized 14,000 rainbow-colored and other fentanyl pills and about 1.6 pounds of methamphetamine.

They also found a loaded gun at the Richland home, plus scales, baggies and drug ledgers at both locations, according to court documents.

She would later admit to the large buy of fentanyl pills the week before.

U.S. Judge Mary Dimke recommended her participation in a drug abuse program in prison. She also sentenced Loza to five years probation after her prison term is completed.

“Rainbow fentanyl is a despicable marketing tool used by traffickers to hide the deadly nature of fentanyl, which could have resulted in over 10,000 deaths in this case,” said David Reames, special agent in charge at the DEA Seattle Field Division.

“The team effort of DEA, alongside our state and local partners, kept this deadly drug off the streets and held Ms. Loza accountable for her actions,” he said.

Landscaping business a drug front

Oscar Chavez-Garcia has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in an large operation that sold fentanyl and other drugs using a Kennewick landscaping business as a front.

He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison by Judge Dimke in a ruling in the Richland federal courthouse.

A person who alerted law enforcement to the operation and a co-defendant in the case said Chavez-Garcia was the nephew of a member of a drug trafficking operation in Mexico that moved drugs into the United States.

Fentanyl and other drugs were picked up in Tucson, Ariz., to be distributed in Eastern Washington, including in the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Moses Lake, according to court documents.

Law enforcement also was told that Chavez-Garcia had almost $1 million invested in drugs, according to court documents.

Affordable Landscaping at 3829 W. Kennewick Ave. served as the drug operation’s center in the Tri-Cities, and Chavez-Garcia lived in one of three houses on the landscaping business property, according to court documents.

Chavez-Garcia would receive the drugs, and the investigation documented him giving them to a dealer who sold to a law enforcement informant in the Tri-Cities, according to court documents.

The dealer, Jose Mendoza-Ruelas, said that the organization would give him 50,000 to 60,000 fentanyl-laced pills in addition to large quantities of methamphetamine, according to court documents. Mendoza-Ruelas earlier was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison.

A search of Chavez-Garcia’s house July 2021 turned up more than $160,000, most of it hidden in bundles secreted within a closet wall, according to court documents. A .45 caliber pistol and a digital money counter also were found in his home.

Although no drugs were seized from his home, a U.S. Border Patrol dog trained to find drugs alerted on a suitcase and storage bins in the basement.

A search of of other houses used by the drug trafficking organization and the landscaping business found loaded assault rifles hanging on a wall and materials often used for street-level drug packaging. Drugs also were seized in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Van Marter said in a court document that the amount of narcotics distributed in the landscaping business case was “staggering.”

Son transported fentanyl for mom

Another of the eight defendants in the landscaping business case, Osvaldo Moreno, has been sentenced by Dimke to two years in federal prison and five years probation.

Both Chavez-Garcia and Moreno pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, 400 grams or more of fentanyl and five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Moreno’s mother, Franchesca Llanos-Delgado, and he were two of the main drivers who would take cash to Arizona and California and return with large quantities of drugs, according to court documents. Llanos-Delgado has yet to be sentenced.

Llanos-Delgado would be paid $5,000 to $10,000 per trip and give some of that money to her son, according to a court document. However, Moreno’s attorney, Ken Therrien of Yakima, denied in a different court document that Moreno received any of the money.

Moreno was helping his mother out of concern that she would not be able to safely drive the long hours needed due to health issues and substance abuse, Therrien said.

He accompanied his mother on two trips, Therrien said.