PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Hillsboro man was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for leading a local methamphetamine distribution ring that prosecutors say was part of a larger plot to traffic drugs from Mexico to the Pacific Northwest.
Department of Justice officials said 44-year-old John Armas planned and coordinated the distribution of more than 5 kilograms of meth between May and October 2018. His sentencing was announced in a press release on Thursday.
According to prosecutors, Armas got pounds of meth at his home from the leader of a larger drug trafficking network, 50-year-old Victor Alvarez Farfan of Oregon City. From there, officials said Armas transferred it to others for storage or further distribution.
On October 17, 2018, Armas, Farfan and 20 more people were charged with a slew of offenses related to the scheme, including funneling the drug money across state lines and money laundering.
A week later, federal agents from the FBI and Homeland Security went with local law enforcement task forces and arrested Armas, Farfan and multiple others charged in the drug trafficking ring.
Investigators searched Armas’ home in Hillbsoro and found drug-packing material and a pistol, officials said.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine in January 2020.
The DOJ said Farfan pleaded guilty nearly a year later, becoming the last of the 23 people charged in the drug trafficking ring to do so. A judge handed him a 15-year sentence.