SPOKANE, Wash. — Four people were arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in connection to a fentanyl ring spanning four states, according to newly unsealed federal court documents filed in Eastern Washington.
A criminal complaint filed Oct. 15 says Matthew Gudino-Pena AKA "Cheesy" is charged with conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
Gudino-Pena along with Hunter O’Mealy, Caleb Carr and Jaime Bellovich were all taken into custody in various locations. Investigators believe they were involved in a conspiracy to distribute 50,000 counterfeit pills believed to be made with fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, LSD and marijuana.
Investigators were able to get access to the suspects locations, cellphone data, photos and videos of the suspects taking part in illegal activity with the help from a confidential source, who has ties to Spokane. Court documents detail how the DEA was able to seize thousands of counterfeit pills, bags of cocaine, 1,000 doses of LSD, over $20,000, firearms and other merchandise believed to be purchased with drug money.
Associates of the suspects were involved in the overdose death of a Coeur d’Alene high school freshman and the murder of a 20-year-old man in Coeur d’Alene in May 2020, according to the criminal complaint. Matthew Holmberg and Dennen Fitter-Usher were arrested in connection to the death of Gabriel Casper. Court documents say Holmberg and Fitter-Usher admitted to killing Casper during the sale of counterfeit oxycodone pills, suspected to be laced with fentanyl, calling it a drug deal gone bad. A confidential source told investigators Holmberg and Fitter-Usher got their drugs from O’Mealy and Carr, who drove to Spokane from Tacoma to deliver pills, documents say.
The confidential source told the DEA O’Mealy and Carr own a business and sell designer clothes, drugs, switches that make firearms fully automatic and drugs out of a storage unit in Tacoma, records show. Documents say Carr and O’Mealy have a history of violence. O’Mealy pulled a gun on the confidential source because they were short on money and Carr was a suspect in a shooting in the Seattle area in July 2020.
According to court documents, the confidential source recorded Snapchat videos where O’Mealy and Carr advertised drugs and toting guns. The source was able to help investigators link O’Mealy and Carr to Gudino-Pena.
In August 2021, documents say Gudino-Pena provided a security escort to O’Mealy while he was traveling back to Washington after picking up more than 40,000 suspected counterfeit oxycodone pills. In a Snapchat video, the complaint says Gudino-Pena was seen shooting an illegal firearm with the caption “Cheesy knock your head off like a (watermelon emoji).”
In October, documents Carr and O’Mealy reached out to the confidential source to see if they could help get them fake IDs to help them evade law enforcement. They wanted an ID for Gudino-Pena as well. Gudino-Pena was also implicated in an attempted murder where Carr and O’Mealy suspected an associate was cooperating with law enforcement, documents say. O’Mealy then traveled to Arizona with Gudino-Pena after the shooting.
On Aug. 15, 2021, the confidential source provided the DEA with a Snapchat video showing Carr preparing to board an airplane with a small red bag. According to documents, the source said Carr was flying back to Tacoma with a half kilogram of cocaine. Three days later, O’Mealy was stopped by law enforcement on I-5 near Chehalis and was being followed in a separate car by Gudino-Pena. Court documents say a search warrant was obtained for both cars where investigators found 40,000 suspect counterfeit oxycodone pills, several firearms and $16,300.
On Aug. 24, documents say the confidential source did a controlled buy of narcotics with Carr and Bellovich in the parking lot of a restaurant near downtown Spokane. Carr gave the source 20 pounds of marijuana candy, 2,000 pills believed to be laced with fentanyl and six phones, according to court documents. Carr believed the source had computer expertise and could make phones invisible to law enforcement.
Instead of making the phones invisible, the confidential source gave the phones to the DEA and documents say they were able to extract data from Carr’s phone. Court records say investigators found Bellovich’s phone number in Carr’s phone, which had a car emoji as part of her contact information.
Drugs moved from Spokane to Arizona, investigators say
Court documents say on Sept. 6, the DEA learned Carr and O’Mealy would be passing through Spokane and they asked the confidential source for payment for the drugs they gave him on Aug. 24. They met in the parking lot of a hotel in Spokane Valley while DEA surveyed the hand-off of $3,000 and saw Bellovich was also in the car, documents say.
By Sept. 12, the men made it to Tucson, Arizona. Documents say over the next two days the confidential source learned Carr and O’Mealy got 10,000 pills in the desert from a Mexican source, they were “running illegal aliens” and were advertising on Snapchat to recruit more drivers. Several days later O’Mealy and Bellovich returned to Tacoma. Documents say Carr stayed in Tucson for a few more days because he said he was assaulted and robbed by a possible member of the Mexican cartel and wasn’t well enough to travel.
The DEA learned on Sept. 18 O’Mealy and Carr wanted to ship suspected fentanyl laced pills to the confidential source in Spokane, documents say. The source was supposed to ship $4,500-$5,000 by overnight mail and in return, O’Mealy would have a “runner” ship 2,000-3,000 pills to them, records show.
The confidential source met with a postal inspector to make a shipping label to send $5,000 to a mailbox in Tacoma associated with Carr and O’Mealy’s business, documents say. O’Mealy shipped the pills once he had a tracking number for the shipment of the money, records state. The package was intercepted and 2,000 pills were found inside, according to documents.
On Sept. 25, Carr told the confidential source about a shooting involving O’Mealy and Gudino-Pena in Tacoma that had occurred the day before. In a text string obtained by the DEA, the shooting involved O’Mealy catching the person who was snitching on them.
The next day, Bellovich was stopped by police on I-5 near Lakeview for numerous traffic violations, documents say. She consented to a search of her vehicle and documents say police found 6,000 possible fentanyl laced pills with the imprint M/30, a small sandwich bag with 36 more pills with the same imprint, 26 ‘Farmapram bottles labeled as ‘Alprazolam 90 county, a large ziplock bag of cocaine and a sheet of 1,000 doses of LSD.
Three days later, documents say Carr contacted the confidential source and told him Bellovich bonded out using a home as collateral. Carr said it made him suspicious and if Bellovich was cooperating with police, he would kill her.
DEA executes search warrants on Tacoma storage units
By Sept. 30, the DEA executed search warrants on Carr and O’Mealy’s home in Eatonville and storage units in Tacoma. According to court documents, the DEA seized more pills suspected to be laced with fentanyl, firearms and several thousand dollars worth of merchandise from the storage units they believe was purchased with drug money. Court documents say O’Mealy tossed his phone after the warrants were served and Carr was working to get he and O’Mealy out of Tacoma. They asked the confidential source if they could get them new identities.
The confidential source was also asked if O’Mealy’s phone was ready and was given instructions to ship it to an address in Arizona. On Oct. 13, the DEA, U.S. Marshals and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) arrested O’Mealy at the address provided to the confidential source, 1011 N Tyndall Avenue in Tucson, Arizona. The address is for an off-campus apartment complex near the University of Arizona. At the time of his arrest, he was with Gudino-Pena. Carr was not at the complex at the time of the arrest. Documents say while he was driving back to the area he was texted a picture of the police activity at the complex.
Following O’Mealy’s arrest, the DEA interviewed Gudino-Pena who, according to documents, denied any knowledge of drug trafficking and any illegal involvement with Carr or O’Mealy.
Carr was located in a motel on Oct. 14 near Tucson and had texted the confidential source that he was with Gudino-Pena, documents say. Carr was taken into custody on an arrest warrant and indictment and Gudino-Pena also arrested.
Federal court documents are not available for the cases against O’Mealy, Carr and Bellovich, indicating the cases against them may have been sealed by the court.
KREM 2 reached out to the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Washington for comment on the case but they are unable to comment on this specific case. It’s also unclear where the suspects are being held.
If the suspects are convicted, they could face 10 years to life in prison and up to a $10 million fine.