A judge sentenced a Kent man to eight years in prison for dealing heroin while armed.
Melquiades Garcia Gonzalez, 29, a Mexican citizen, received the sentence on Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He made a series of heroin sales to a person working with law enforcement in April, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release.
Garcia Gonzalez also agreed in May to sell three kilos of heroin to an undercover officer, with the promise of additional kilos in the future.
U.S. District Judge Richard Jones said at the sentencing that Garcia Gonzalez, “was controlling the lives of countless other people by providing the drug for their addiction.”
Kent Police arrested Garcia Gonzalez on May 20 after he attempted to deliver three kilos of heroin to undercover officers at the Home Depot parking lot on the East Hill, according to records filed in the case.
Garcia Gonzalez attempted to get away from police when he drove at a high rate of speed through the parking lot, narrowly missing other vehicles and pedestrians. He bolted from his car and officers chased him on foot before catching him. Officers saw Garcia Gonzalez throw a handgun into the bushes near a housing complex with young children playing in the yard. Police later found the weapon, a loaded Kahr .40-caliber pistol.
In addition to the heroin in the car, police found another kilo of heroin and a second loaded gun at the home of Garcia Gonzalez.
Garcia Gonzalez pleaded guilty in November to alien in possession of a firearm, possession of heroin with intent to deliver and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Kent Police, Seattle Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.
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