Tri-Cities fentanyl dealer ordered back in federal prison after selling again
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- Kennewick man, 25, sentenced to federal prison again after 2nd drug conviction.
- Undercover DEA buys linked him to fentanyl and meth sales.
- A gun was found with the initials of a violent Mexican criminal organization.
A 25-year-old Kennewick man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday after dealing fentanyl and meth just months after being released from prison on a previous federal drug conviction.
Benjamin Machado-Gomez also was sentenced by U.S. Judge Mary Dimke to 18 months in prison for violating his parole after serving a five-year federal term for possessing methamphetamine with intent to sell it in Utah.
That prison time will be served at the same time as his new 12-year sentence for his Eastern Washington drug conviction. Dimke also sentenced him to five years parole.
A co-conspirator in the Tri-Cities case, Francisco Figueroa, was sentenced in September to 10 years in prison and five years parole.
Benjamin Machado-Gomez’s younger brother, Pedro Machado-Gomez has pleaded innocent in the Tri-Cities case and has a trial set for April. He was 15 when he joined his older brother in the drug trade in Utah in 2020, according to a court document.
Benjamin Machado-Gomez reached an agreement to plead guilt to distribution of meth in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping three counts of distribution of fentanyl and counts of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and meth.
DEA undercover fentanyl buys
An investigation began in November 2024 after the Drug Enforcement Administration in the Tri-Cities received a tip from a confidential informant regarding a drug-supplier in Hermiston, Ore., later identified as Figueroa.
A phone subpoena showed that Benjamin Machado-Gomez was in frequent contact with Figueroa.
DEA task force undercover officers arranged to meet three times to buy drugs from defendants in the case.
In November 2024, Benjamin Machado-Gomez arrived in a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee with a package that he handed to Figueroa, who gave them to the undercover officers in exchange for $4,200.
The undercover officers had asked to buy 3,000 fentanyl pills, but what they received was about 2,493 fentanyl pills and about 894 pills with no fentanyl, but lidocaine. Lidocaine, which can be used as a local anesthetic, is not a controlled substance.
In December 2024, after a tracking device was placed on the Jeep driven by Benjamin Machado-Gomez, undercover agents asked Figueroa for 2,000 fentanyl pills.
Benjamin Machado-Gomez showed up at the buy site and said he had only 1,000 pills, which he sold for $1,500. Lab tests showed that the pills contained fentanyl.
In January 2025, undercover agents again contacted Figueroa asking to buy fentanyl and meth. Figueroa told them to contact Benjamin Machado-Gomez, instead, since he had no meth on hand.
Phone calls to both brothers led to a meeting, at which Benjamin Machado-Gomez’s younger brother brought 1,000 fentanyl pills and one pound of meth for a $2,400 payment.
As in the first purchase, some of the pills contained lidocaine instead of fentanyl.
Gun, drugs found in Pasco
On Feb. 18, 2025, law enforcement arrested Figueroa in the parking lot of a Pasco hotel and arrested the two brothers at their homes after searching both.
Nothing of interest was found at Benjamin Machado-Gomez’s home with his sister’s family in Kennewick.
But law enforcement believe that his younger brother’s single-wide mobile home in Pasco was being used as a stash house.
A camera that had previously been set up to photograph the mobile home showed the older brother and the gray Jeep Cherokee at the mobile home numerous times.
Inside were numerous bags that contained both fentanyl pills and pills that instead contained lidocaine, similar to those purchased by undercover agents; scales with residue and drug paraphernalia.
In addition, a 9 mm pistol was found under a bed pillow. It had CJNG engraved on the slide and a 16-round magazine.
CJNG is believed to stand for Cártel de Jalieco Nueva Generación, which court documents said is one of Mexico’s most powerful, influential and violent transnational criminal organizations.
Attorneys argue prison sentence
Benjamin Machado-Gomez’s attorney, Nicholas Granath of Walla Walla said his client’s role was as a courier. He requested a prison sentence of 10 years.
But Brandon Pang, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern Washington District, said Benjamin Machado-Gomez was a key player in the drug operation. He requested 15 years.
Pang pointed out that Benjamin Machado-Gomez was the only one of the three defendants involved in all three undercover buys.
He also appeared to have decision-making authority, telling the undercover officers who wanted more fentanyl at the second buy that he could get them more later in the day. In the third buy he negotiated the type of drugs, the amount, the price and set the location of the buy, according to Pang.
The defense attorney said that Benjamin Machado-Gomez was born in the United States but grew up in Mexico and speaks mostly Spanish.
He was working full-time in construction and is not a violent person, but temptation caused him to re-offend in the Tri-Cities, Granath said in court documents.
This story was originally published February 7, 2026 at 8:00 AM.