RICHLAND, Wash. – According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington, a 32-year-old Tri-Cities man was sentenced on Friday to over 13 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl.
A press release says Sharte Dashon Kimble, 32, will spend 165 months in federal custody, along with a 25-month sentence being served consecutively for being on supervised release from a previous conviction at the time of his offense.
In June 2023, the Missouri River Drug Task Force from Helena, Montana received information that Kimble had a large source of supply of fentanyl. A controlled buy was arranged by law enforcement at a Walmart in Kennewick.
On June 15, 2023, the controlled buy took place. Several law enforcement vehicles approached the buy, which prompted Kimble to attempt to run away.
During the chase, the press release says Kimble threw a bag of fentanyl pills away while trying to escape officials. Inside, investigators found about 20,283 fentanyl pills.
A stolen pistol, a loaded magazine, cocaine, almost $40,000 in cash, over 1,000 more fentanyl pills and a receipt for a storage unit in Yakima were found in his car. The storage unit contained hundreds of rounds of ammunition, magazines, a pistol, two rifles, a two-pound brick of cocaine and several vials of small blue pills.
“Our community is safer and stronger today because of Mr. Kimble’s sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref. “Despite a prior conviction on similar charges, Mr. Kimble was undeterred and continued to supply large quantities of deadly fentanyl and other illegal narcotics, all while possessing stolen firearms. Additionally, when investigators moved in to take Mr. Kimble into custody, he attempted to escape putting members of the Tri-Cities community at risk.”
