Pair indicted after feds seize $1M cash, 33 weapons, fentanyl pills

Two men from Washington state were indicted Friday on charges that they were trafficking fentanyl disguised as fake oxycodone pills in Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties.

Two Washington state men were indicted Friday, after a months-long investigation led authorities to seize $1 million in cash, 33 firearms, and thousands of fentanyl tablets, according to court records.

Acting on a tip in late July, federal authorities monitored Griffin Thompson, 30, of Bellingham, as he stopped at the home of Bradley Woolard, 39, in Arlington before heading north, the Seattle Times reported.

Woolard and Thompson were suspected of being involved in the distribution of fentanyl pills designed to look like oxycodone in several counties in western Washington, said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes for the Western District of Washington in a statement.

At a traffic stop, investigators found $8,000 in cash and 1,000 pills of fentanyl packaged to look like oxycodone, court documents said, according to the Times. Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid more powerful than morphine.

The next day authorities raided Woolard’s home and found 10,000 pills of fentanyl, 33 firearms, and $980,000 in cash, according to court documents.

Woolard was arrested Sept. 1 while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Thompson was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts: conspiracy and possession of fentanyl with intent to sell. He was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday.

Woolard, who has a priory felony drug charge from 2004, was charged Friday with five counts of drug distribution and illegal firearms possession. Prosecutors said he was being held in San Diego and will appear in court later this month, the Times reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.