The U.S. District Court in Tacoma sentenced a 44-year-old Puyallup man to 11 years in prison Wednesday for his role distributing fentanyl and methamphetamines for a white prison gang, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Daniel Hammond was convicted in February of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, according to the release.
In March 2023, the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration began a drug trafficking investigation into members and associates of two predominantly white prison gangs: the Aryan Family and Omerta, the release said.
The investigation tied three branches of gangs involved in the operation, one of which was led by Yehoshua Kilp, an associate of Hammond. Last year, Kilp was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Hammond was able to order pounds of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills to sell across the Tacoma area, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in the release.
Even after his arrest in the case, Hammond contacted a drug supplier in Mexico to conduct more trafficking, Floyd said.
Throughout the investigation, officials recovered an estimated 223 pounds of methamphetamine, around 830,000 fentanyl pills, pounds of fentanyl powder, cocaine, heroin and marijuana, as well as $338,000 in drug profits, and 48 firearms from members of the conspiracy, the release said.