BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office issued the following press release today, January 8, 2025.
Tuesday, Jan. 7, the Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force (WGDTF) along with the Bellingham Police Department and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Washington State Department of Corrections, arrested eleven individuals in and around downtown Bellingham for drug delivery charges.
In November 2024, the WGDTF initiated an investigation of street-level drug dealers in Bellingham’s downtown business district in response to numerous complaints of open-air drug use, drug sales and other criminal activity. During the course of the investigation, SATAN NEHTAH WEY (legal name) was identified as one of the primary sources of illegal drug sales in the central business district. Nehtah Wey was observed operating out of a small RV parked along the side of the 100 block of E. Magnolia Street which investigators believed acted as his base of operations for his drug activities.
In December, investigators served a search warrant on Nehtah Wey’s RV. Inside the RV, there were numerous items indicative of street level drug sales, including:
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- Over 100 small packages of suspected fentanyl packaged for suspected street-level drug sales, packages weighed approximately 226 gross weight grams;
- Several small packages of suspected methamphetamine packaged for suspected street-level drug sales weighing 7 gross weight grams;
- small quantity of suspected fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycontin pills;
- 17 Suboxone strips;
- small amount of suspected psilocybin mushrooms; and
- over $4,000 in small denomination US currency believed to be drug proceeds, including pre-recorded WGDTF “buy money”
Over approximately two months, undercover detectives purchased street-level quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine from Nehtah Wey and his associates in the downtown core. Through the course of the investigation, investigators observed Nehtah Wey utilizing several other individuals to facilitate his drug sales. In total, undercover detectives made approximately 24 controlled purchases of suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine during November and December from Nehtah Wey and his associates as well as other street level dealers in the area.
On Jan. 7, officers from the Bellingham Police Department and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office descended on downtown Bellingham and arrested Nehtah Wey and ten other individuals on probable cause related to the investigation.
Nehtah Wey was arrested for: six counts of Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine; three counts of Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Fentanyl; Possession with Intent to Deliver – Methamphetamine and Fentanyl and Leading Organized Crime which, per the Washington State RCW, is defined as when “a person commits the offense of leading organized crime by: Intentionally organizing, managing, directing, supervising, or financing any three or more persons with the intent to engage in a pattern of criminal profiteering.”
Along with Nehtah Wey, these individuals were also arrested:
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- Alvin Godette (age 48) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine (three counts), Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Marijuana
- Dakota Boome (age 36) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine
- Gabriel Brummel (age 35) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine
- Jean Cooper (age 27) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine
- James George (age 31) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Fentanyl and Methamphetamine
- Alexander Gott (age 22) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Fentanyl
- Benjamin Imhoff (age 26) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine
- Chace Justice (age 34) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Fentanyl (two counts)
- Christopher Mayse (age 35)– Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Methamphetamine
- Jana Quinton (age 45) – Delivery of a Controlled Substance – Fentanyl
More arrests are anticipated.
While the WGDTF tends to focus on drug trafficking organizations and mid-to-upper level drug dealers, due to the crisis level of use of fentanyl, this investigation targeted street-level dealers selling to those with substance abuse disorder.
Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu and Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund have indicated via Executive Orders that the local fentanyl crisis is their top concern; therefore it is a top priority for the Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force.
“Fentanyl is deadly and devastating,” said Lt. Keith Linderman of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, a leader in the WGDTF. “Protecting our community from those who sell, and profit from, fentanyl means deploying vital resources like our Gang and Drug Task Force.”
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Click for more informationThe Whatcom Gang and Drug Task Force includes investigators from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, Bellingham Police Department and the US Department of Homeland Security. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Bellingham Regional Office also assisted in the investigation.
For information on overdose prevention and treatment resources in Whatcom County, visit Whatcomoverdoseprevention.org.
– Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (January 8, 2025)
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