Yakima man found with 77,000 fentanyl pills sentenced to seven years on drug-dealing charge

YAKIMA - A 28-year-old Yakima man was sentenced to seven years in prison for dealing fentanyl.

Alejandro Ferandez pleaded guilty to possession of fentanyl with the intent to deliver during an Oct. 17 hearing in Yakima County Superior Court. In return for his plea, prosecutors dropped charges of possessing cocaine with intent to deliver, possessing a stolen firearm and two counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The sentence is above the 20- to 40-month standard range sentence based on Fernandez’s charge and his prior convictions. Fernandez has six prior felony convictions for bail jumping, second-degree unlawful firearms possession, cocaine possession, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and residential burglary.

Fernandez was arrested in March, following an investigation by Yakima police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents.

Police and a DEA agent followed Fernandez from a home in the 600 block of North Fourth Avenue to a tire store on East Yakima Avenue, where they arrested him following a brief foot chase, according to court documents.

Police said Fernandez threw an object that appeared to be a firearm on the ground, a Smith & Wesson handgun that was reported stolen, according to court documents.

At the time of his arrest, Fernandez was also carrying $7,410 in cash in his pockets, as well as a bag that contained unused small baggies like those used for packaging drugs for sale, the documents said.

Officers also searched vehicles that Fernandez was using and found $9,779 in cash, a digital scale, a 9 mm Glock pistol, and 77 bags that contained 1,000 pills each that appeared to be oxycodone but were laced with fentanyl, according to the documents.

Detectives also found 121 grams of a powder that tested positive for cocaine, according to court documents.