By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Five Seattle-area men have been federally charged for drug activity in the Chinatown-International District (CID) and the so-called “Jungle,” a homeless encampment underneath I-5, after they were allegedly heard plotting violence and drug running on an investigation-related wiretap, according to a Jan. 15 Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
Mayor Bruce Harrell, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman, W. Mike Herrington, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office, Seattle Police Department (SPD) Capt. Steve Strand, City Attorney Ann Davison, and Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson held a press conference at Hing Hay Park on Jan. 15 to address the matter.
Mayor Bruce Harrell addresses the media at a press conference in Hing Hay Park on Jan. 15, 2025. Courtesy of The Seattle Channel.
“We treasure lives here. We are a city of innovation,” Harrell said, during the press conference. “The poison in the streets should not be here. Fentanyl, methamphetamine—this is poison that [is] killing our children, our young adults, hurting our businesses.”
The DOJ said that the five men who have been arrested are:
Tommy Pham, 37, of Newcastle, Washington
Donfeuy Saephan, 54, of Seattle
Khampheth Keodara, 42, of Seattle
Sang Tran, 54, of Kent, Washington
Theodore Nation, 35, of Seattle
Beginning in November 2023, and coordinated among the SPD, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), with help from federal and local partners, the investigation focused on a drug trafficking organization dealing a number of drugs—fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin—in different homeless encampments in the city, as well as different areas of the CID, including 12th and Jackson.
Using a court-authorized wiretap, the DOJ said in its press release, “Investigators gathered evidence of the drug trafficking and made arrests and seizures over the course of the investigation.”
“Law enforcement heard intimations of violence on the calls and worked to intervene without tipping off the targets of the investigation,” the DOJ continued.
Over the course of a multi-day arrest operation a few days prior to Jan. 15, the DOJ said, law enforcement personnel seized 17 firearms and 23 kilograms of what they suspect to be fentanyl powder.
The five men are charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Nation is charged with possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute. Pham and Tran are charged with distribution of controlled substances. Pham is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, because he has criminal history that bars him from possessing firearms, the DOJ said.
The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations, the DOJ noted in its press release. The current charges carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison for conspiracy and some drug counts. Possession with intent to distribute is punishable by a mandatory minimum five years in prison, while illegal possession of a firearm is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
“The fentanyl powder alone seized from this group could have unleashed 1.7 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl into our community,” said David F. Reames, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s Seattle field division.
The investigation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation, the DOJ said. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations within the United States. Investigators also worked with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO), and Tukwila Police Department (TPD) on this case.