2 more members of Arlington-based drug trafficking ring sentenced

SEATTLE - Two more members of a wide-ranging drug trafficking ring based out of Arlington were sentenced Thursday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) announced 38-year-old Aaron Alarcon-Castaneda of Chino, California was sentenced to six years in prison, and 65-year-old Steven Del Vecchio of Snohomish was sentenced to nine years.

Both were identified in a wiretap investigation and indicted in Dec. 2020, along with several other ring members.

"While each of these men played a different role, such conduct was integral to spreading poison throughout our community," said Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. "Del Vecchio was the retail salesman, getting drugs into the hands of users, while Alarcon-Castaneda was the broker and money collector – coordinating the shipments of drugs and money to and from Western Washington. For the pain and addiction they caused, they have earned these significant prison sentences."

In the 2020 operation, detectives seized 143 pounds of methamphetamine, 15 pounds of heroin, 35,000 fentanyl pills, 24 firearms and $778,000 in cash. Ringleader Cesar Valdez-Sanudo was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Jan. 2023.

According to the USAO, the ring distributed drugs across King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 2 sentenced in family-run drug trafficking ring based in Arlington

Alarcon-Castenada brokered a 44-pound methamphetamine shipment from California to Washington, which was seized by law enforcement; he was shortly after identified in the wiretap investigation. Authorities say he was heard speaking with Valdez-Sanudo about "using the cables" to interrogate the associate who lost the shipment—meaning he planned to electrocute him.

Law enforcement intervened to prevent him from going through with the torture. When searching his home, drugs were found hidden in "everything from laundry soap bottles to the kitchen garbage can."

Del Vecchio, also referred to as Delvecchio in court documents, is a known drug dealer and ten-time convicted felon. He was previously arrested in June 2020 in an investigation from the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, where meth, heroin, fentanyl, 19 guns and $115,000 in cash were recovered.

Just six months later, he was identified in the same wiretap investigation that got Valdez-Sanudo and his drug ring associates indicted.