A former Mexican lawyer was given more than seven years in jail for his part in a drug trafficking ring linked to an Aryan prison gang.
Gustavo Castellanos-Tapia, 38, of Burien was given a 90-month prison sentence on Friday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for planning to sell controlled drugs. Along with 23 other people, Castellanos-Tapia was charged in March 2023 with bringing meth, fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin into Washington.
Court records show that Castellanos-Tapia used to work as a lawyer in Mexico before coming to the U.S. illegally in 2020 when work was slow because of the COVID-19 plague. He painted boats for a short time and then sold drugs to make extra cash.
Lawyers say Castellanos-Tapia did not use drugs as his co-conspirators did.
Investigators kept an eye on Castellanos-Tapia and learned that every couple of weeks he would bring bags with 30–40 pounds of meth.
Agents found 225 guns, cocaine, 6 pounds of heroin, 830,000 fentanyl pills, and 26 pounds of fentanyl powder. They also found 255 pounds of meth and 6 pounds of heroin.
“Drugs like the methamphetamine Castellanos-Tapia sold are very bad for the community,” the prosecutors wrote, asking for a nine-year prison term. “People who are addicted to these drugs often steal to feed their habits, from family, friends, and even strangers. It’s clear that drug users are behind a lot of these crimes and also a lot of violent crimes in our neighborhoods.
Because Castellanos-Tapia was in the U.S. illegally, prosecutors say he will probably be sent back to his home country after his jail sentence.
