Source: US FBI
Defendant directed drug trafficking activities even while jailed on state charges
Tacoma – The leader of a drug distribution cell tied to Aryan prison gangs was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 14 years in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Yehoshua Kilp, 39, was indicted in connection with a two-year investigation of drug trafficking organizations connected to the Aryan Family and Omerta prison gangs. At the sentencing hearing Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said, “The amount of controlled substances we are talking about are mind-boggling… There were discussions about particularly potent batches of fentanyl that was possibly leading to overdoses and yet you kept going.”
“This defendant has been involved with the criminal justice system since age 14 and has caused significant harm,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. “The wiretap investigation revealed that even when he was jailed on state charges, he continued to direct drug distribution activities.”
According to records filed in the case, Kilp bought and distributed hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, large quantities of heroin, and
hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills. In August 2022, law enforcement seized more than 44 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 4 kilograms of fentanyl laced pills, cocaine, and heroin from an Airbnb where Kilp had been staying. When Kilp was arrested on state charges he continued to direct the drug activities of co-defendant Sara Thompson. Thompson was sentenced to seven years in prison in January 2025. Thompson served as Kilp’s proxy for major narcotics deals.
Kilp was actively distributing fentanyl pills even when he was informed the pills were too strong and were causing overdoses. Instead of stopping distribution of those pills, Kilp and his co-conspirators discussed how to make the fentanyl less pure. They also schemed to wrap the fentanyl in more layers to protect the people they used to smuggle the fentanyl in their bodies.
Kilp was also indicted in the District of Arizona for his role in laundering drug money back to a source of his drug supply in Mexico. On March 12, 2025, Kilp pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. Today’s sentencing resolves the Arizona and Washington cases.
Law enforcement made two dozen arrests on federal charges on March 22, 2023. The coordinated takedown involved ten swat teams and more than 350 law enforcement officers. On that day law enforcement seized 177 firearms, more than ten kilos of methamphetamine, 11 kilos of fentanyl pills and more than a kilo of fentanyl powder, three kilos of heroin, and more than $330,000 in cash from eighteen locations in Washington and Arizona. Earlier in the investigation law enforcement seized 830,000 fentanyl pills, 5.5 pounds of fentanyl powder, 223 pounds of methamphetamine, 3.5 pounds of heroin, 5 pounds of cocaine, $388,000 in cash, and 48 firearms.
The top-level leader of the drug trafficking ring, Jesse Bailey, was sentenced in July to 17.5 years in prison. Kilp was judged to be just slightly below Bailey in the drug ring, so prosecutors recommended a 15-year sentence, with five years of supervised release to follow. Prosecutors wrote to the court, “Kilp was the leader of a large network of drug redistributors responsible for moving hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills.”
Chief Judge Estudillo ordered Kilp to be on five years of supervised release following his prison term.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
This investigation was led by the FBI with critical investigative teamwork from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Washington State Department of Corrections and significant local assistance from the Tacoma Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, and the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, led by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. Throughout this investigation the following agencies assisted the primary investigators: Washington State Patrol, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Lakewood Police Department, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Zach Dillon, Max Shiner, and Jehiel Baer.