Homeland Security Task Force investigation results in prison sentence for drug trafficker

Date: Sept. 30, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Seattle – A Federal Way, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy that preyed, in part, on unhoused people in “The Jungle” under I-5 and Seattle’s International District, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Charle Neil Floyd. Leonardo Rojas Cruz was indicted in May 2025, following a lengthy wiretap investigation. Rojas Cruz was a redistributor of cocaine and methamphetamine ordering up multiple pound quantities of the drugs. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tana Lin noted that cocaine users, such as Rojas Cruz, were particularly vulnerable to overdose because cocaine and fentanyl powder are very similar in appearance. Judge Lin told him, “You not only gambled with your own life but with the lives of others as well.”

“In March 2025 alone, law enforcement seized 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 111 kilos of cocaine, 19 kilos of fentanyl powder, 250,000 fentanyl pills, and four kilos of heroin as they investigated this drug ring and a related one,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “The street value of those narcotics is nearly $3 million – but the damage to our community due to addiction, crime and deaths far surpasses that number.”

“Despite a prior drug trafficking conviction, Mr. Rojas Cruz chose to continue down a path leading to suffering and addiction for so many, purchasing kilogram quantities of controlled substances from his co-conspirators for resale to vulnerable populations," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. "The FBI and our partners will continue to combat drug trafficking and violent crime in Seattle and throughout the state of Washington.”

“Mr. Rojas Cruz pushed deadly poison into the Chinatown International District, profiting from some of Seattle’s most vulnerable living in ‘The Jungle’,” said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “The fentanyl powder alone seized from this drug trafficking organization could have unleashed 1.7 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl into our community. Through Fentanyl Free America, DEA, along with our federal, state, and local partners, is disrupting the fentanyl supply chain, reducing its availability, and saving American lives.”

On May 29, 2025, law enforcement executed 16 search warrants in Federal Way, Vancouver, Everett, Pacific, Tukwila, Kent, Issaquah, Seattle, Woodlake, California and Beaverton, Oregon. Investigators seized more than seven kilograms of cocaine, 18 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 57,000 fentanyl pills, and 17 firearms. They also seized more than $353,000 in cash.

Rojas Cruz is a Mexican national with a prior federal conviction for drug trafficking in the Eastern District of Washington. In 1991 he was sentenced to more than five years in prison. Nevertheless, he returned to drug trafficking for an extended period of time. Prosecutors wrote to the court, “Rojas Cruz trafficked two of the three leading causes of overdose in King County- cocaine and methamphetamine. And he was not merely trafficking a small amount. In fact, the intercepts show Rojas Cruz purchased substantial quantities of cocaine from his co-defendant over a short amount of time, which provides circumstantial evidence of Rojas Cruz’s trafficking activities. Moreover, he was involved in trafficking controlled substances over a long period of time. Investigators identified Rojas Cruz as a trafficker through communications intercepted in October 2024 and then, after the investigation of Ibarra Loera resumed in 2025, Rojas Cruz was intercepted discussing the sale of a pound of methamphetamine in February 2025 too.”

These coconspirators have already been sentenced:

Daniel Ibarra Loera of Kent, WA -- 96 months in prison

Jose Garcia Corona of Seattle -- 15 months in prison

Oscar Omar Serrano Serrano of Algona, WA -- 30 months in prison

Juan Lopez Roblero of Tukwila, WA -- twelve months in prison

Giovanni Antonio Garduno Garcia of Issaquah, WA – 72 months in prison

Sang Su, Seattle, is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 4, 2026.

Rojas Cruz will likely be deported following his prison term.

This investigation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Seattle comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), The United States Marshals Service (USMS), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the United States Secret Service (USSS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. 

The investigation was led by the FBI, Seattle Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with significant assistance from the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program (HIDTA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Washington National Guard Counterdrug Program. Investigators also worked with the Oregon State Police and Clark County, Washington Sheriff’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Casey Conzatti and Brian Wynne.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 16 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.