Leader of Aryan prison gang drug cell sentenced in Tacoma to 14 years
TACOMA - The U.S. District Court in Tacoma sentenced the leader of a drug distribution cell to 14 years in prison Friday.
The defendant was indicted in connection with a two-year investigation of drug trafficking organizations connected to the Aryan Family and Omerta prison gangs.
According to information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Yehoshua Kilp, 39, bought and distributed hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, large quantities of heroin and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills and continued to direct drug trafficking activities even while jailed on state charges. Friday's sentencing resolves two drug cases Kilp was involved in.
"Kilp was the leader of a large network of drug redistributors responsible for moving hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills," prosecutors wrote to the court.
Prosecutors recommended a 15-year sentence and Chief Judge Estudillo ordered Kilp to be on five years of supervised release following his prison term.
Yehoshua Kilp has been a repeat offender since the age of 14
The backstory:
Kilp has been involved with the criminal justice system since he was 14-years-old, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Miller.
In August 2022, Kilp stayed in an Airbnb, where law enforcement seized more than 44 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 4 kilograms of fentanyl laced pills, cocaine, and heroin.
When Kilp was arrested on state charges, he continued to direct the drug activities of co-defendant Sara Thompson. Thompson was sentenced to seven years in prison in January 2025. Thompson served as Kilp’s proxy for major narcotics deals.
Hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, large quantities of heroin and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills were seized in a drug trafficking arrest. (Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office)
Arizona indicted Yehoshua Kilp for his role in laundering drug money
Fast-forward to 2025, when the District of Arizona indicted Kilp for his role in laundering drug money back to the source of his drug supply in Mexico.
Kilp pleaded guilty to a superseding information charge: conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering on March 12.
On the broader scale of the distribution ring, law enforcement made two dozen arrests on federal charges on March 22, 2023.
"The number of controlled substances we are talking about are mind-boggling," Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said at the sentence hearing.
Estudillo said there were discussions about some batches of fentanyl possibly leading to overdoses.
The Yehoshua Kilp case was part of a bigger investigation
What we know:
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation, which identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States.
OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
10 SWAT teams and more than 350 law enforcement officers seized 177 firearms, more than 10 kilos of methamphetamine, 11 kilos of fentanyl pulls and more than a kilo of fentanyl powder, three kilos of heroin and more than $330,000 in cash from eighteen 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.
The top-level leader of the drug trafficking ring, Jesse Bailey, was sentenced in July to 17.5 years in prison.
The Source: Information in this story came from a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.
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