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Leader of drug ring linked to Aryan prison gang sentenced in Tacoma
The 39-year-old leader of a drug-trafficking ring that has been tied to Aryan prison gangs was sentenced to 14 years in prison in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Friday.
Yehoshua Kilp was indicted after a two-year investigation of drug-trafficking rings with connections to the Aryan Family and Omerta prison gangs, according to a Department of Justice news release. Kilp was accused of buying and distributing large quantities of heroin, hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills for the organization.
'This defendant has been involved with the criminal justice system since age 14 and has caused significant harm,' Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said in the release. 'The wiretap investigation revealed that even when he was jailed on state charges, he continued to direct drug distribution activities.'
Kilp was staying in an Airbnb in August 2022 when law enforcement seized the drugs.
The drugs included:
More than 44 kilograms of methamphetamine
More than 4 kilograms of fentanyl laced pills
Cocaine
Heroin
Prosecutors say Kilp continued to direct the drug activities of his co-defendent Sara Thompson while he was arrested on state charges, the release said.
Thompson was sentenced earlier this year to seven years in prison for her role in major narcotics deals for the drug ring after she pleaded guilty in August 2024. The DOJ said in a news release that she was in a romantic relationship with Kilp.
Eric Smith, 54 of Tacoma, was a co-defendant who also pleaded guilty to conspiring with members of the ring to smuggle drugs to Washington. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, The News Tribune reported.
'Kilp was actively distributing fentanyl pills even when he was informed the pills were too strong and were causing overdoses. Instead of stopping distribution of those pills, Kilp and his co-conspirators discussed how to make the fentanyl less pure,' the release said.
The release said that Kilp and the co-conspirators planned to wrap the fentanyl in more layers to protect the people who smuggled the drugs in their bodies.
Kilp also pleaded guilty in Arizona to laundering drug money back to a source for the supply in Mexico. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The release said that the federal sentence resolved the Washington and Arizona state cases.
'The amount of controlled substances we are talking about are mind-boggling… There were discussions about particularly potent batches of fentanyl that was possibly leading to overdoses and yet you kept going,' Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said during Friday's sentencing, the release said.
