‘Drug trafficker shrine’ to saint fails to protect large scale Kennewick meth dealer

A Kennewick man has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison and five years probation for selling pounds of methamphetamine in the Tri-Cities.

Aurelio James Gonzalez, 30, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to two counts of distributing 50 grams or more of meth.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Tri-Cities Task Force and the Tri-City Metro Drug Task Force used a confidential source to build their case against him, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Washington.

Gonzalez sold 2 pounds of meth to the undercover source in 2020, once bringing his small child with him when he made the sale, according to federal prosecutors.

He was selling the meth for $4,600 per pound, meeting with the confidential informant twice in the parking lot of a Richland restaurant, according to court documents. Law enforcement also recorded other meetings between Gonzalez and the confidential informant.

“This case involved both large scale methamphetamine distribution as well (as) the possession of several firearms in furtherance of Mr. Gonzales’s drug trafficking organization,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref.

Three pistols, an ounce of cocaine, a handwritten notebook with detailed instructions on money laundering, a scale and $14,805 were seized from the home he shared with his mother, his significant other and two small children, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.

Most of the items seized were near a “Santa Muerte” shrine with candles and flowers. The folk saint is commonly associated with drug trafficking, according to prosecutors.

Gonzalez’s attorney, Douglas McKinley, successfully argued for Judge Stanley Bastian to sentence Gonzalez to the mandatory minimum sentence for his crimes.

Gonzalez had no prior convictions or arrests for drug trafficking offenses and his longest sentence was 20 days in jail, his attorney said in court documents.

His attorney also argued that the guns found in his home should not be considered in sentencing because Gonzalez did not take them to either of the sales to the confidential informant and they were not loaded when they were found in his home.

However, the judge applied the firearms enhancement.

Since Gonzalez’s arrest in February 2021 he has ended his drug use and has held construction and landscaping jobs, according to court documents.

The case was prosecuted under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program. It provides supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved in the investigation of transnational drug trafficking and related offenses.