He oversaw Mexican drug distribution. This Kennewick man will be deported — in 30 years

A Kennewick man who ran operations in the United States for a transnational drug trafficking organization is going to federal prison for 25 years.

Jese David Carillo Casillas, 33, oversaw the distribution of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine that came up from Mexico.

The organization, whose founding leader was murdered in Mexico in December 2015, was responsible for the monthly distribution of 110 to 220 pounds of drugs into the U.S. and Canada, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Washington.

The distribution cell had been rooted in Eastern Washington since 2010, however Casillas only took over operations here in early 2015, when leader Ivan Calvillo fled to Mexico before his eventual death.

Casillas organized, facilitated and controlled the distribution network from Kennewick, and reported directly to the trafficking organization’s head in Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

He was one of 16 members who were indicted in U.S. District Court and arrested on drug trafficking and money laundering crimes.

“This organization was known for its ability to import large quantities of these narcotics through designated half-way points in the Los Angeles and Riverside, California, areas into Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,” the news release said, “and to various locations throughout the Midwest and East Coast to include North and South Dakota, Minneapolis, Chicago, Kentucky and New York for distribution.”

Casillas pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of meth, 5 kilos or more of cocaine, 1 kilo or more of heroin and 400 grams or more of fentanyl, in addition to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Nine counts were dismissed with his plea.

During a recent hearing in the Richland federal courthouse, Senior Judge Ed Shea ordered Casillas to serve 25 years for his role in the drug conspiracy. That will be served at the same time as a 15-year term for the money laundering.

Casillas will be on supervision for five years after his release from prison.

Then, once the entire sentence is done, agents will deport Casillas to his native country since he is not a citizen of the United States.

The FBI partnered with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police crime unit in Vancouver and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Financial Crimes Task Force in Boston to track the organization’s drug cash proceeds.

A DEA officer posed as a person who could launder the organization’s money and was in direct communication with Calvillo, and later Casillas, the U.S. Attorney’s news release said.

The undercover agent reportedly arranged for more than two dozen cash money pick-ups of drug proceeds, and then took direction from Calvillo and Casillas as to where the laundered drug money should be wired.

That undercover work helped investigators figure out how far the organization reached and identify other members.

“Calvillo and Casillas arranged for over $1.6 million in cash drug proceeds to be picked up by the undercover operatives,” the news release said.

Federal investigators also worked with Kennewick, Pasco and Richland police, Benton County sheriffs and the Washington Department of Corrections on the case.

“This investigation made a substantial mark upon a large-scale organization operating throughout the world that had chosen our district as a point of operation,” said Eastern Washington’s U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Harrington. “It is these types of investigations that bring into focus the dangers drug trafficking organizations pose to our communities.”