Man Gets 20 Years For ‘Doughboy’ Role

The stiffest prison sentence to come out of Spokane’s “Operation Doughboy” is a 20-year term given to a Pasco cocaine distributor.

Edelmire “Eddie” Tamez Jr., 39, received the sentence Monday in U.S. District Court, where a jury in February convicted him of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Judge Fred Van Sickle also ordered Tamez to complete 10 years of supervised parole after he is released from prison.

Tamez faced a minimum, mandatory term of 10 years in prison because he was convicted of conspiring to distribute 5 kilograms - 11 pounds - of cocaine.

But that term was automatically doubled to 20 years because Tamez had been convicted in 1992 in U.S. District Court in Florida of attempting to possess and distribute cocaine.

Testimony during a six-day trial revealed that Tamez and Keith S. Young, 47, of Electric City, Wash., were primary suppliers of cocaine to a network of dealers and users in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

They supplied cocaine to drug counselor John S. Drake and Nelson Mariani, both of whom struck plea bargains and testified for the prosecution.

Young, who owns a business in Electric City, was sentenced to 10 years in prison late last month by Van Sickle.

Young also was fined $10,000 and must complete five years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

, DataTimes