Eleven people were arrested Tuesday, Jan. 7 in connection to a two-month street-level drug investigation in downtown Bellingham by the Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force (WGDTF).
The investigation began in November in response to numerous complaints of open-air drug use, drug sales and other criminal activity in the downtown business district, said Amy Cloud, the public information officer at the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management. One of the primary suspects, a 34-year-old man, was observed operating out of a small RV parked along the side of the 100 block of East Magnolia Street. Investigators believed this to be his primary base of operations.
Undercover investigators purchased street-level drugs — including fentanyl and methamphetamine — 24 times from the suspects and other dealers over two months, Cloud said.
During a search of the RV in December, investigators found items indicative of street-level drug sales, Cloud said. Items included more than 100 small packages of suspected fentanyl packed for suspected street-level sales; several small packages of suspected methamphetamine; a small quantity of suspected fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycontin pills; 17 Suboxone strips; a small amount of suspected psilocybin mushrooms; and more than $4,000 in drug proceeds.
The 11 people arrested Tuesday range in age from 22 to 48. Charges include delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver.
The suspected ringleader who operated out of the RV is also facing charges related to leading organized crime.
“While the WGDTF tends to focus on drug trafficking organizations and mid-to-upper level drug dealers, due to the crisis level of use of fentanyl, this investigation targeted street-level dealers selling to those with substance abuse disorder,” Cloud said.
Bellingham Police officers and Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputies took the suspects into custody without incident, with help from the Washington State Department of Corrections.
Cloud said more arrests are anticipated.
“Fentanyl is deadly and devastating,” said Lt. Keith Linderman of the WCSO, a leader in the WGDTF. “Protecting our community from those who sell, and profit from, fentanyl means deploying vital resources like our Gang and Drug Task Force.”
Local leaders in Bellingham and Whatcom County have spent the last year focused on slowing the fentanyl crisis downtown. Mayor Kim Lund issued an executive order in February 2024 establishing a first-responder office downtown, and beefed up police patrols in the area. Whatcom County Council members passed a resolution in March last year declaring the fentanyl crisis an emergency.
The suspects are in custody at Whatcom County Jail as of Wednesday, Jan. 8.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
