Judge sentences drug trafficker to nearly 20 years in federal prison

SPOKANE, Wash – A Mexican national accused of flooding eastern Washington and Montana with meth and fentanyl will spend nearly two decades in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Luis Esquivel-Bolanos, also known as “Colorado”, to 19 years in prison followed by five years supervised release.

Court documents says the Bureau of Indian Affairs and DEA identified Esquivel-Bolanos as a member of a drug trafficking ring that operated in the Oroville area and on the Colville Indian Reservation.

Federal prosecutors say the operation spread into central Montana, including on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Rocky Boy, Fort Belknap and Flathead reservations.

“The organization used threatening tactics to maintain control over their drug-distribution activities,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. “In one instance, the organization threatened that the Jalisco Cartel, who supplied drugs to Esquivel-Bolanos and his associates, would kill a confidential informant, who was strip searched when the informant was accused of being a ‘snitch’.”

When agents moved in, they searched several homes in Okanogan County.

Through those searches, they seized 161,000 pills laced with fentanyl, 80 pounds of meth, approximately six pounds of heroin and more than two pounds of cocaine.

Agents also seized 12 firearms.

“This case involved one of the largest drug seizures ever in rural Washington,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Van Marter. “Mr. Esquivel-Bolanos’s organization was major source of illegal narcotics across Washington and Montana. These drugs caused serious harm across our region and especially in our tribal communities.”