Federal agents investigating a suspected fentanyl trafficking network in Portland were astonished to find the putative local leaders: two teenagers working from a Tualatin home.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials, armed with a search warrant, invaded the home in mid-October 2024. The federal agents apprehended one teen while the other fled. They also detained two adult men in the house.
The search uncovered what a federal prosecutor described as a “staggering” amount of drugs: more than 40 pounds of fentanyl in pill and powder form.
The two arrested men, cousins from Honduras, were recently sentenced to federal prison for selling fentanyl in Portland.
However, prosecutors described them as relatively short-term, mid-level dealers commanded by two teens, an uncommon role reversal, according to both federal and local officials.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lewis Burkhart, the boys, who are thought to be 16 and 17, appeared to be conducting a drug trafficking ring out of their house with instructions from an uncle who was overseeing the operation from Mexico.
“It was a house for juveniles… The kids took on a considerably larger role, which is rare and highly alarming,” Burkhart told a judge last week. “They’re exploiting our sympathetic juvenile system to flood our area with drugs.”
DEA agents discovered approximately five pounds of fentanyl powder below a bathroom sink during the raid. They recovered two backpacks containing more than 170,000 blue fentanyl pills in the master bedroom closet. They also discovered multiple bags of fentanyl powder and $7,279 in cash elsewhere in the property, according to court filings.
Burkhart said the teenagers were expected to face fentanyl supply charges in Oregon juvenile court. The person who fled was caught in California during the past six months and was supposed to be returned to Oregon to face the charges.
According to the prosecutor, both were arrested earlier in 2024 on drug dealing charges while conducting a separate investigation into a Honduran trafficking business. Investigators collected approximately 20,000 fentanyl pills and $65,000 in cash from them, he stated.
They were charged in juvenile court with narcotics possession but were discharged a few months later, according to Burkhart.
“These are not two children who made an immature mistake,” Burkhart clarified. “They are hardened fentanyl drug dealers that will continue to be released and poison the community until they turn 18 and are sentenced as adults.”
According to Burkhart, the two males arrested at the Tualatin residence—cousins Jimy Arias Diaz, 30, and Joel Bonilla Arias, 24—had been working for the two adolescents for approximately 25 days prior to the bust.
The men took orders, negotiated bargains, and carried them out, he added.
According to Benjamin Kim, Bonilla Arias’ defense counsel, the adolescents had custody of the drugs and money.
“He never wanted to be in this business,” Kim explained of his client. “He received a death threat. He had nowhere to turn. ” His cousin dragged him into this.”
Bonilla Arias had arrived to Oregon from Florida with his cousin for a construction job that he thought his cousin had arranged for them, but he objected when he discovered they were trafficking drugs, according to Kim.
Within a week or two, Bonilla Arias was kidnapped with a sack over his head, driven about two hours away, and assaulted at gunpoint by unnamed “enforcers” who threatened him and his family if he didn’t work for the youngsters, Kim said.
“These cartels are using juveniles who can get recycled in the system and are taking advantage of that,” Kim explained to the jury.
Bonilla Arias, who has no past criminal record, apologized after being sentenced in federal court in Portland on Tuesday.
“I know that my actions were wrong,” he told me.
United States District Judge Karin J. Immergut sentenced him to four years and three months in prison.
“You are selling a commodity that is killing people. I hope you recognize this,” Immergut informed him. “You should’ve known better. “You should have said no when you had the opportunity.”
Both Bonilla Arias and Arias Diaz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs. Last May, Arias Diaz was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.
Both face deportation after serving their sentences.