‘Deeply dangerous’ Richland drug dealer sentenced for +13,000 fentanyl pills and meth

A Richland man was sentenced to nine years in federal prison after supplying fentanyl and methamphetamine that prosecutors say was distributed in large quantities in and near the Tri-Cities.

When officers arrested Ricardo Cantu, 26, he and another man were smoking fentanyl in the garage of his home while a child was inside, exposing both law enforcement and the child to toxic fumes, according to court documents.

A search of the home found about 10,000 pink fentanyl pills underneath a dresser in a child’s Hello Kitty bag and about 2,000 pills in a closet along with a loaded Glock. The gun had been reported stolen in Grandview, according to a court document.

Three co-defendants have pleaded guilty to helping Cantu deliver drugs. They are Julio Gaspar-Iniguez, Veronica Martinez and Daniel Mora, according court documents.

Mora was previously sentenced to five years in prison, and Martinez was sentenced to nearly three years.

Gaspar-Iniguez has pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl and meth and conspiracy to distribute them, but has yet to be sentenced.

The case started with information from a confidential informant who agreed to buy some meth under law enforcement surveillance from Gaspar-Iniguez in Richland in September 2023, according to court documents.

Cantu came with Gaspar-Iniguez to meet the informant and showed him some additional meth and also fentanyl pills and offered to match the price of drugs that the informant was buying elsewhere, according to a court document.

The next month the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had the informant buy about 2,000 pills from Gaspar-Iniguez, whom he met at a Prosser gas station, according to a court document.

Mora and Martinez were there in a third car, which had about 3,000 blue and pink fentanyl pills retrieved from behind a dashboard stereo screen for the informant.

Two months later, search warrants were served at Cantu’s home on Willowbrook Avenue in south Richland.

Search finds fentanyl, gun

Investigators had been watching Cantu’s house and knew that several small children lived there. They waited until the children left for school before serving the search warrant. They did not know one child was still at home with family members, according to court documents.

In addition to the 12,000 fentanyl pills found in the house, officers found about 1,500 fentanyl pills in the garage and fentanyl powder and burned foil remnants scattered around, according to a court document.

Gaspar-Iniguez’s house also was searched. A loaded 9 mm gun linked to two shootings in the Yakima Valley and a ghost gun with a loaded magazine were found, according to federal prosecutors. In addition, a loaded pistol was found in his car.

He is scheduled to be sentenced June 25.

Judge Mary Dimke also ordered Cantu to serve four years probation after his release.

His attorney Christopher Black argued in court documents that Cantu had no criminal history related to guns, drug trafficking or violence.

His drug trafficking appeared motivated by his own addiction, his attorney said.

“He had the kind of tragic, traumatic childhood that almost inevitably leads people into addiction and crime, which is exactly what happened in this case,” Black said in a court document.

Cantu pleaded guilty to distributing meth, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and conspiracy to distribute meth and fentanyl.

“Distributing and using fentanyl and methamphetamine in our communities – especially in places where children are present – is both reckless and deeply dangerous,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard Barker. “Mr. Cantu not only trafficked deadly narcotics but did so while armed and in the presence of children, putting lives at risk.”

He put the entire community at risk by trafficking fentanyl and meth while armed, said David Reames, special agent in charge at the DEA Seattle Field Division.

“This sentence conveys the seriousness of the danger Mr. Cantu posed to law enforcement and other members of the community poised to get caught in the cross fire of his drug trafficking enterprise,” Reames said.

This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.