Methamphetamine dealer sentenced to 8 years in prison

SEATTLE – A Mexican national was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison and five years' supervised release on federal drug charges stemming from a three month concentrated enforcement initiative last year in White Center by federal, state and local authorities.

Antonio Torres-Magana, 35, of Yakima pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He was caught with more than 3 1/2 pounds of high purity methamphetamine when he attempted to deal the drugs to an undercover officer.

As part of the undercover operation, investigators contacted an individual in Mexico about purchasing the narcotics. That contact arranged for his cousin who lived in Yakima to deliver the drugs at a meeting in the Seattle area. On the day of the bust, an associate of Torres-Magana contacted the undercover officer informing him that they were leaving Yakima and heading to Seattle to do the drug deal. They were arrested when they met with the officer.

The crackdown, called "Operation Center of Attention," targeted suspects in the White Center neighborhood of King County. The enforcement effort was coordinated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the King County Sheriff's Office, the Seattle Police Department, the King County Metro Transit Police, the Washington State Department of Corrections, the Washington State Liquor Control Board and the Eastside Narcotics Task Force.

Operation Center of Attention resulted in 50 arrests, and the seizure of nearly 70 guns and more than 60 pounds of illicit drugs.