A 32-year-old Renton resident was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 13 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking ring connected to Aryan prison gangs.
Shawn Ellis was one of over two dozen people arrested on federal charges in March 2023 when federal agents moved in following a two-year investigation of drug trafficking activities, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The coordinated takedown on March 22, 2023, involved 10 SWAT teams and more than 350 law enforcement officers. On that day, law enforcement seized 177 firearms, more than 10 kilos of methamphetamine, 11 kilos of fentanyl pills and more than a kilo of fentanyl powder, three kilos of heroin and more than $330,000 in cash from 18 locations in Washington and Arizona. Earlier in the investigation law enforcement seized 830,000 fentanyl pills, 5.5 pounds of fentanyl powder, 223 pounds of methamphetamine, 3.5 pounds of heroin, 5 pounds of cocaine, $388,000 in cash, and 48 firearms.
Lewis and Thurston county sheriff’s offices assisted in the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The top-level leader of the drug trafficking ring, Jesse Bailey, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13, and his wife and co-conspirator, Candace Bailey, is scheduled for sentencing on May 16, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A search of Ellis’ car turned up buckets filled with fentanyl pills and kilos of methamphetamine, as well as four firearms, including a machine gun.
At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said, “We’re talking about a significant amount of controlled substances,” and added, “What is really significant and obviously scary for the community is the firearms.”
According to records filed in the case, Ellis was a prolific drug redistributor. He obtained drugs from one branch of the drug conspiracy and sold the drugs to other customers for profit. Ellis would order as much as 30 pounds of methamphetamine at a time. When Ellis was arrested, agents seized the buckets of fentanyl and methamphetamine as well as cocaine and fake Xanax pills. Ellis carried four guns in the car to protect his drugs: a loaded pistol between the driver’s seat and center console, an SK-15 rifle hidden in a violin case, a shotgun and a second loaded pistol. He also had body armor in the vehicle.
In a storage shed Ellis controlled were five additional firearms, a large amount of ammunition, additional body armor and a homemade silencer, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Ellis also stored cash, jewelry, precious metals, coins and other collectibles in the shed.
Ellis has two prior felony drug convictions and is prohibited from possessing firearms.
In asking for a 15-year sentence, prosecutors wrote to the court, “But the danger Ellis posed to the community does not stop (with his possession of a silencer). He carried guns in his car along with his drugs, including a pistol which he kept close at hand near the driver’s seat. Ellis also kept in the car a second pistol, a shotgun, and an AR-15 type rifle that he hid in a violin case. This rifle proved to be a machine gun that fires fully automatically. As a felon, Ellis could not legally possess any firearms, much less a silencer or a machine gun.”
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
This investigation was led by the FBI with critical investigative teamwork from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Washington State Department of Corrections and significant local assistance from the Tacoma Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, led by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. Throughout the investigation, the following agencies assisted the primary investigators: Washington State Patrol, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Lakewood Police Department and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zach Dillon, Max Shiner and Jehiel Baer.
