SEATTLE — Hector Duran Aldaco, a 25-year-old Federal Way resident identified as the leader of a transnational drug trafficking organization, was sentenced Monday, August 3, to 130 months in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy that trafficked large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine into western Washington.
U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson imposed the sentence after Duran Aldaco pled guilty in February 2026 to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and to using a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime. The case stems from a multi-year investigation that culminated in the indictment and arrest of more than a dozen people in May 2024.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said Duran Aldaco was responsible for attempting to flood the community with 85 kilograms of methamphetamine, 30 kilograms of fentanyl and 2.5 kilograms of cocaine.
“Despite repeated law enforcement seizures, he didn’t stop, switching from rental cars to intercity bus lines to try to get his drugs to Washington,” Floyd said. “That conduct plus his possession of high-power firearms results in this lengthy sentence which is warranted.”
The scope of the operation stretched from a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization that supplied the group, through the Los Angeles area as a key transit point, and into the Seattle region for redistribution. Investigators determined that Duran Aldaco, also known as Jay Thrax, coordinated the movement of narcotics and worked with both charged and uncharged co-conspirators to distribute the drugs throughout western Washington. The organization also handled alprazolam, a benzodiazepine that is thought to enhance the activity of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.
The investigation began in December 2022 when the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI identified Duran Aldaco as a large-scale fentanyl distributor. Through physical and electronic surveillance, travel records and other techniques, agents traced the supply chain and documented how the group adapted its transportation methods after repeated losses.
In April 2023, the California Highway Patrol seized 47 kilograms of methamphetamine and 115,000 fentanyl pills during a traffic stop linked to the organization. In June 2023, the Oregon State Police seized 28 pounds of methamphetamine. In November 2023, Oregon troopers again stopped a vehicle and recovered 15 kilograms of methamphetamine and 30 kilograms of fentanyl pills. Seizures continued into 2024. In April of that year, Portland police recovered 7.5 kilograms of fentanyl pills abandoned at a bus station by an associate of Duran Aldaco.
By the time of the May 2024 enforcement action, law enforcement had already seized 59 kilograms of fentanyl pills, 81 kilograms of methamphetamine and 21 kilograms of cocaine, along with 11 firearms. On the day of the arrests, officers recovered an additional 12-plus kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 14,000 fentanyl pills, a half-kilogram of cocaine and 42 firearms.
A federal grand jury returned three related indictments in May 2024. The primary indictment charged Duran Aldaco, then 23, and nine others with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Those defendants included Damian Pina-Raymundo, 19, of Enumclaw; Daniel Moreno, 24, of Federal Way; Rogelio Pena, 21, of Tacoma; David Padilla, 22, of Kent; Neldin Licona Rivera, 33, of Seattle; and Sebastian Esquivel Rojas, 20, of Federal Way. Duran Aldaco faced the additional firearms charge.
A second indictment charged Salina Rose Atsemet, 26, of Renton, with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute after a February 2024 seizure of one kilogram of cocaine and two firearms. A third indictment charged Brian Axel Pedraza Cisneros, 20, and Jose Rodolfo Aguilar Cortes, 21, both of Federal Way, in connection with a March 2024 seizure of 14 kilograms of cocaine and one firearm in Lewis County. Two additional individuals, Brian Garcia Lopez, 23, of Kent, and Otis Lee Dew, 25, of Puyallup, were arrested on criminal complaints the same day.
Wiretap evidence captured Duran Aldaco discussing the acquisition and trading of firearms for drugs. When agents searched his residence and a storage unit in May 2024, they recovered three firearms, ammunition, body armor, more than $14,000 in cash and jewelry. The storage unit contained over three kilograms of methamphetamine, 200 grams of cocaine and more than 10 kilograms of marijuana, and appeared configured to support a marijuana grow operation.
W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office, described Duran Aldaco as sitting “at the helm of a transnational drug trafficking organization conspiring to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and alprazolam throughout Western Washington.”
The investigation involved the DEA, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Seattle Police Department, Oregon State Police, Portland Police Bureau, California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Strike Force, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Centralia Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey Conzatti and Elyne Vaught and formed part of broader multi-agency efforts targeting high-level trafficking networks.
Author: Mario Lotmore
