RICHLAND, Wash. – Two Richland brothers were sentenced to a combined 45 years in prison for trafficking hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into the Tri-Cities, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
Kyle Ray Campbell, 36, will spend 25 years in federal prison and Cameron Earl Campbell, 32, will spend 20 years, both for possessing with an intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl. Each sentence will be followed by five years of federal supervision.
Court documents say that starting in 2019, Kyle would travel to San Diego to obtain fentanyl-laced pills that had been smuggled across the Mexican border. Cameron did the same after he was off supervision from the Washington State Department of Corrections.
The two were provided with around 50,000 pills per month from early 2019 to Feb. 2020.
The FBI eventually observed Cameron returning to Toppenish from a bus trip to San Ysidro and Mexico with several bags in Feb. 2020. Agents entered a laundromat that he was waiting in to search his bags where they found around 10,000 fentanyl-laced pills.
A search warrant into Cameron’s phone found several messages between the brothers detailing the trip and stating that Cameron had left around 500 pills in a fast-food restaurant bathroom in Portland.
Another search warrant in July 2020 for Kyle’s home found a safe with 400 pills, baggies with drug residue, cash and multiple firearms. Another handgun was also found in the bedroom.
Chief Judge Stanley A. Bastian noted during sentencing that the brothers attempted to obstruct justice. Cameron tried to have his now ex-wife wipe their cell phones and Kyle threatened a witness if they testified.
“The defendants in this case distributed a shocking amount of deadly illicit fentanyl into the Tri-Cities area,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref. “This poison causes untold damage to families, neighborhoods, and our nation. My office is committed to battling the fentanyl epidemic by working together with our federal, state, local and tribal partners to prosecute the most significant traffickers to remove the source of supply of these dangerous narcotics and to protect our community.”
