Firearm trafficking case highlights gang violence in Spokane
Five young men face federal firearm trafficking conspiracy charges after legally purchasing guns in Montana and then trafficking them to juvenile Spokane gang members who used them in shootings, including a homicide at a north Spokane gas station, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told reporters Monday at a news conference.
Nowels and Eric Jackson, assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Seattle Field Division, detailed the yearlong investigation, dubbed "Operation Young Guns," into the Indian Pride Organization Blood criminal street gang members' alleged weapons trafficking.
Jackson said the gun trafficking conspiracy devastated several communities.
"For months, our local partners, special agents, analysts and industry operations investigators worked tirelessly to uncover a network that moves illegal firearms from Western Montana into the Spokane, Washington area," Jackson said. "These gun traffickers put those firearms into the hands of IPO Blood gang members who would go on to commit heinous acts of violence, including drive-by shootings, homicides, armed robbery and other gang related crimes."
Ryder W. Robison, 21; Quentin M.D. Hutchison, 19; Owen J. Neeson-Graham, 21; Ethin S. Rettkowski, 19; and Dylan I.M. Doughty, 20, were arrested last week. All are members or associates of IPO Blood, Nowels said. Robison lives in Montana and the other four reside in the Spokane area.
"Where Washington law falls short with holding people accountable for gun crimes, the federal government does not take that approach," Nowels said. "They believe violent crimes where guns are used are significant and serious, and this is the appropriate path for us to now take with these young individuals who might not be appropriately held accountable in the state of Washington."
The Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement & Narcotics Task Force worked with Spokane police, ATF and Montana law enforcement agencies during the investigation. RAVEN consists of investigators from the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, Spokane Valley police and federal law enforcement agencies.
Nowels said ATF discovered Robison provided firearms he purchased legally in Montana to IPO Blood gang members. He said authorities recovered cartridge cases associated with Robison from two locations near Kalispell.
Nowels showed social media photos of Robison and the other defendants in a slideshow presentation. He also showed photos of the remote area investigators located the cartridge cases.
Those shell casings were connected to at least four shootings in Eastern Washington, including at a Maverik gas station, he said.
Nowels said Robison sold a firearm to Hutchison which Hutchison then used to shoot and kill rival gang member 33-year-old Timothy Allen Jr. one year ago at a north Spokane Maverik. Another man was also shot and wounded.
"That is why it is so critical that we are doing everything we can to prevent firearms coming into the hands of juveniles and gang members alike," Nowels said.
Hutchison was charged with suspicion of second-degree murder and drive-by shooting, but prosecutors dropped the charges after details were brought to light that supported "a theory of self-defense," according to court records.
Nowels showed surveillance video footage of the shooting that appeared to depict two groups arguing before a burst of gunfire erupted.
The defendants were accused of trafficking Glock pistols and "modified" Glock pistols, the latter of which are designed to shoot more rounds faster, Nowels said.
Hutchison, Neeson-Graham, Rettkowski and Doughty communicated with juvenile IPO Blood gang members about firearms trafficking, according to Nowels. Neeson-Graham, a convicted felon, was identified as the source of a firearm sold to an ATF undercover agent.
Rettkowski was previously convicted of unlawful firearm possession after providing a stolen firearm used in a shooting to another IPO Blood member.
"I will point out this is the problem with Washington state law," Nowels said. "(Rettkowski) had a prior conviction. And if we handled juvenile violent crime, which I would submit to you, possessing a firearm as a juvenile and trafficking them as a juvenile is a violent crime in our community, maybe some of these other crimes wouldn't have occurred."
Doughty was also convicted of weapons offenses and tied to a 2024 shooting in Spokane County, Nowels said.
"You can tell he's been part of the juvenile justice system here in the state of Washington, and he was so concerned about being held accountable again, that we have pictures of him with three firearms stuffed into his pants and bragging about it," said Nowels, describing a social media photo of Doughty holding a pistol in each hand and another firearm tucked in the front of his pants. "I don't think he learned when he was in our juvenile justice system."
While the federal investigation against the five defendants started about a year ago, Nowels said the investigation started a couple years ago when juvenile Spokane County gang members were convicted of firearm crimes.
"I will tell you, we do not do enough in the state of Washington due to our legislation and our current judiciary to hold young violent criminals accountable, particularly gang members," Nowels said. "Each of those individuals who were arrested and prosecuted in Spokane County received exactly one year in custody."
RAVEN Task Force detectives continued to investigate those gang members and with the help of Spokane police, gathered evidence at shooting scenes and discovered the firearms ties between Robison in Montana and the Spokane County shootings. Nowels said social media posts showing the gang members with firearms and ATF's National Integrated Ballistic Information Network also helped tie the case together.
Nowels said detectives authored over 40 search warrants for locations in Montana and Spokane, as well as on social media sites, bank records and other digital sources.
Spokane
gang violence
Nowels said the IPO Blood have operated in the Spokane area for at least a decade. Familial interconnectivity between local street gang sets makes investigating specific gang loyalties far more complicated than in the past, he said.
He said Spokane gangs are becoming incredibly diverse across all racial and ethnic groups, unlike traditional gangs who were typically racially and ethnically similar. Today's gangs change names, merge and separate.
"It is critical that we know who our gang members are, that we understand the conflicts that are going on between them and do everything we can to deny them the opportunity to commit violent crimes," Nowels said. "That we disrupt them as much as possible and hopefully eventually dismantle them. Those are the three words: deny, disrupt, dismantle. And that's the approach we have to take for any gang that decides they want to operate here in Spokane and make our streets less safe."
Nowels said gangs are recruiting minors because they know the state does not hold juveniles accountable in a way that's going to change their behavior.
"They know if they get the guns into the hands of juveniles in the state of Washington that they're not going to do any kind of substantial time in the state of Washington because of the legislation and the court rules coming from the (state) Supreme Court," Nowels said.
He said a lot of gang violence is committed on rival gangs, but that doesn't mean "innocent citizens" aren't affected. He used the Maverik parking lot shooting as an example, where bullets were flying in a public space.
"This gang violence spills over into our streets," Nowels said. "They don't pick and choose where it's safe for the rest of the public to conduct their violent acts. It's very much anger and pride driven, and they don't think about anybody else."
Nowels said he believes gang violence in Spokane County has decreased from about six years ago, but it seems to be on the upswing again.
"I think our youth right now are more willing than maybe previous youth to use firearms to settle their differences," he said.
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