…over cocaine shipments
A 65-year-old Dominican Republic national arrested in Colombia and extradited to the United States has been sentenced to 96 months in prison for conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money.
Jose Manuel Frias Lopez was sentenced on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Seattle after pleading guilty to the charges in April 2026.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Frias Lopez was arrested in June 2024 and extradited to the United States in August 2025.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Lauren King noted Frias Lopez’s criminal history, saying he had been “in a revolving door with the justice system in this country.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said Frias Lopez was at the centre of a criminal organisation involved in importing cocaine into Seattle and other parts of the United States.
“This defendant was at the centre of the criminal organisation in this case, importing cocaine to the streets of Seattle and other parts of the U.S.,” Floyd said.
He added that undercover meetings documented the activities of sophisticated drug traffickers seeking to profit from the illegal drug trade.
The case stemmed from a joint investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Seattle Police Department, alongside state, federal and international law enforcement agencies.
The multi-year investigation targeted a drug trafficking organisation that imported fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin from Mexico into the United States before investigators traced part of the network to Colombia.
According to court records, the investigation into members of the organisation operating in Colombia began in April 2023 and continued until January 2024 with confidential sources and undercover agents used to identify Frias Lopez as a source of cocaine.
Undercover agents from U.S. and Colombian law enforcement subsequently met with Frias Lopez and his associates in Colombia, where investigators said he arranged cocaine supplies for delivery to the United States and laundered money paid for the drugs.
Court records also showed that Frias Lopez discussed other aspects of the alleged trafficking operation, including plans to transport cocaine to Florida and Spain.
Frias Lopez has a lengthy criminal record in the United States, including convictions in Oklahoma for drug trafficking, concealing stolen property and driving under the influence.
In 2004, he was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for trafficking methamphetamine while possessing a firearm before being released and deported from the United States in 2014.
Prosecutors sought a 96-month sentence, citing the impact of drug trafficking on communities in King County, Washington.
They noted that 914 people died from drug overdoses in King County in 2025, while 394 confirmed overdose deaths and 44 probable overdose deaths had been recorded in the first six months of 2026.
According to prosecutors, cocaine was involved in 218, or 24 per cent, of the county’s overdose deaths in 2025, frequently in combination with fentanyl or methamphetamine.
DEA Seattle Field Division Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Saccone said drug traffickers could not evade justice by operating across international borders.
“DEA is committed to identifying, investigating, and pursuing those responsible for poisoning our communities, wherever they operate,” Saccone said.
He said the agency would continue working with domestic and international law enforcement partners to identify offenders operating in source countries and bring them before U.S. courts.
The investigation was led by the DEA and Seattle Police Department, with assistance from several other U.S. law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Colombian National Police and Colombian Prosecutor’s Office also collaborated with U.S. authorities during the investigation, while the Justice Department’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of the Judicial Attaché in Bogotá provided additional assistance.
The cases arising from the wider investigation are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joe Silvio and C. Andrew Colasurdo in the Western District of Washington.
