Federal agents found $82,000 stashed in the home of a Tacoma man charged Thursday with 11 others with selling heroine, cocaine and methamphetamine in Western Washington over the past five years.
Gilberto Salazar-Rojas is one of 12 people federally charged with conspiring to distribute controlled substances.
Federal Drug Enforcement Agency officers served 16 search warrants Wednesday, one of which was at Salazar-Rojas’ Tacoma home on East 56th Street.
They seized 10 kilograms of cocaine, more than 4 pounds of heroin, more than a pound of meth, about 3.5 ounces of crack cocaine, 10 guns, and more than $400,000, spokeswoman Jodie Underwood said.
The DEA tapped three cellphones in October, including Salazar-Rojas’, and recorded multiple conversations conducted in Spanish and the Mixteco Bajo language. The conversations were about drug and money transactions, records indicate.
Over the course of 25 days, agents said, Salazar-Rojas gave one woman 18.5 ounces of cocaine, which she planned to sell.
After serving search warrants, agents reported finding $82,000 and scales in Salazar-Rojas’ Tacoma home. They also allegedly discovered 100 grams of crack cocaine and 3 kilograms of cocaine at a stash house he used in Renton.
stacia.glenn@ thenewstribune.com
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