First Defendant Sentenced as Federal Case Exposes Drug Trafficking Network Operating Inside Seattle’s International District and Homeless Encampments

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — A federal sentencing handed down this week marks the first conviction in a sweeping, multi-agency prosecution targeting a drug trafficking organization that embedded itself directly inside Seattle’s homeless encampments and the city’s International District, using addiction, displacement, and social collapse as a distribution infrastructure.

Theodore Nation, 36, was sentenced on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, to 30 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Tana Lin in the Western District of Washington. Nation, who has been in federal custody since January 2025, is the first of approximately twenty defendants charged in a long-running investigation into large-scale narcotics trafficking centered around encampments beneath Interstate 5 and key corridors of the International District.

During sentencing, Judge Lin characterized Nation’s conduct as predatory, noting that he was dealing narcotics “to particularly vulnerable and marginalized members of the community.” Federal authorities emphasized that the sentence represents the opening phase of a much broader accountability effort still unfolding.

Court filings and investigative records show that Nation functioned as a redistributor within what investigators refer to as the “Jungle Drug Trafficking Organization,” a network that sold fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin directly inside homeless encampments — including the area known as “The Jungle” beneath I-5 — and in open-air drug markets near locations such as 12th Avenue and South Jackson Street.

According to prosecutors, Nation delivered narcotics directly into encampments, capitalizing on the isolation, instability, and addiction gripping individuals already living in extreme conditions. Federal officials described the operation as deliberately exploitative, structured to sustain dependency rather than merely supply drugs.

The investigation began in November 2023, when federal and local law enforcement agencies initiated a coordinated probe into escalating drug activity tied to overdoses, firearms, and violent crime in and around the International District. Using court-authorized wiretaps, investigators documented drug transactions, redistribution routes, and communications that included explicit references to violence. Authorities stated that intervention strategies were carefully timed to prevent harm without prematurely exposing the investigation.

The first wave of arrests and indictments occurred in January 2025. During that operation, several defendants were taken into custody while armed. Law enforcement seized 17 firearms and approximately 23 kilograms of suspected fentanyl powder, underscoring the convergence of narcotics trafficking and armed criminal enforcement.

A second major enforcement phase followed in late May 2025. In just one month — March 2025 — investigators seized 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 111 kilograms of cocaine, 19 kilograms of fentanyl powder, roughly 250,000 fentanyl pills, and four kilograms of heroin. Federal authorities estimated the street value of the seized narcotics at nearly $3 million, with the fentanyl powder alone representing more than 1.7 million potentially lethal doses.

Prosecutors highlighted the deadly public health impact of the organization’s activities. Sentencing memoranda cited data from the King County Medical Examiner’s Office showing a sharp rise in fentanyl-involved overdose deaths, from 167 in 2020 to 1,086 in 2023. Although overdose deaths declined in 2024 and 2025, officials emphasized that hundreds of fatalities per year persist — a toll directly linked to high-volume trafficking networks such as the one dismantled in this case.

Federal authorities stressed that the organization’s operations did not occur in a vacuum. The proximity of drug distribution to daycare facilities, residential areas, and transit corridors amplified the risk to the broader public, while the concentration of narcotics within encampments entrenched cycles of addiction, violence, and exploitation.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working alongside the Seattle Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration, with significant assistance from Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Additional support was provided by the King County Sheriff’s Office and the Tukwila Police Department.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey Conzatti and Brian Wynne. Federal officials indicated that additional defendants face substantial prison exposure as cases continue to move through the courts.

Authorities stated that the sentencing of Nation is only the beginning. The broader case reflects an enforcement strategy focused not only on street-level distribution, but on dismantling entire trafficking ecosystems that exploit homelessness, fuel overdose deaths, and destabilize neighborhoods under the cover of social crisis.

Federal officials said that drug trafficking organizations operating within vulnerable populations will be treated as violent criminal enterprises — not low-level narcotics operations — due to the scale of harm, the presence of firearms, and the sustained human cost left in their wake.

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