Tacoma men, woman charged as part of drug ring tied to shootings, overdose of Idaho teen
Two Tacoma men and one woman are accused of being part of a violent drug ring that allegedly has distributed fentanyl pills to Spokane and is tied to the shooting of a man in Lakewood.
Hunter Bow O’Mealy, Caleb Ryan Carr and Jamie Bellovich were charged Tuesday with conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and two counts of distribution of 40 grams or more of fentanyl in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington.
A fourth person, Matthew Gudino-Pena, was charged Oct. 15 with conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
In charging papers, federal prosecutors’ description of the drug ring’s activities since May reads like something out of a movie, including members allegedly shooting lower-level dealers who owed drug debts, the shooting of a Lakewood man who members allegedly believed to be an informant, and a trip to the Mexican border for more drugs that ended with one member supposedly assaulted by a man associated with the Mexican cartel.
Prosecutors allege the group also trafficked cocaine, methamphetamine, LSD and cannabis.
Investigators kept up on the group’s activities with the help of a confidential informant who allegedly bought drugs from Carr and O’Mealy and sold them to other dealers charged in the overdose death of a 15-year-old in Idaho.
Prosecutors wrote that the confidential informant agreed to cooperate with the Drug Enforcement Agency after it recovered thousands of pills suspected to be laced with fentanyl at the person’s home while executing a search warrant.
The confidential source told investigators Carr and O’Mealy had been selling drugs, guns, modifications for firearms and designer clothes out of a storage unit in Tacoma. According to court documents, videos show the men advertising drugs and guns on Snapchat. They allegedly traveled between Tacoma and Spokane to deliver pills and also used the U.S. Postal Service to mail them.
Authorities used geolocation for Carr and O’Mealy’s phones obtained through search warrants and information from the confidential source to track the men as they traveled between Washington, California, Arizona and North Carolina while allegedly trafficking drugs.
Carr, O’Mealy and Gudino-Pena were arrested in October in Tucson, Arizona. They fled after the DEA executed search warrants Sept. 30 at Carr and O’Mealy’s residence in Eatonville and at the storage units in Tacoma they had allegedly been operating out of.
It’s unclear when or where Bellovich was apprehended. Prosecutors wrote that she was arrested Sept. 27 while driving back to Washington state from Los Angeles. She was stopped on Interstate 5, and police found 6,000 pills suspected to be laced with fentanyl along with other drugs in her car, according to court records. She was released on bail two days later.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
