Dominic Holden

“Excellence is a hallmark of many aspects of The Seattle Times.” That’s what you say, Seattle Times, but there’s an exception to excellence whenever the subject is DEA drug busts, like today’s article by Mike Carter. Is it a news report or a press release?

Federal drug agents seized more than 36 pounds of cocaine and $203,000 in cash during overnight raids in Burien on Thursday, ending a 10-month investigation into a Burien-based cocaine ring with ties to Mexico.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the King County Sheriff’s Office used wiretaps and surveillance to dismantle the organization. In all, 17 people were arrested and 16 have been indicted in U.S. District Court, including 10 people arrested last month. Agents seized an additional 2 kilograms of cocaine, three guns, cars and $40,000 in cash during the March arrests, according to court documents and the U.S. attorney’s office.

“The organization was large, well-established and was distributing over 30 kilograms of cocaine per month in the Greater Seattle Area,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Arnold Moorin said Friday.

The drug ring centered on the El Flamingo Restaurant in Burien. The alleged ringleader, Domingo Bailon-Yanez, 30, is related to the restaurant owner and was indicted, according to court documents. Restaurant manager Rigoberto Sabalsa-Lozano, 43, of SeaTac, and bartender Carla Rodriguez-Romero, 26, of Kent, also were indicted.

In addition to cocaine, the DEA alleges the ring also sold kilogram-quantities of heroin and methamphetamine.

Bailon-Yanez, Sabalsa-Lozano and Rodriguez-Romero and seven others are charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin. Six others are indicted with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine.

Given the quantities of drugs, the conspiracy charges carry mandatory prison sentences of 10 years to life.

A juvenile allegedly involved in the conspiracy was arrested but later released. In a news release, the U.S. attorney’s office said enhanced prison sentences could apply because a juvenile was allegedly a participant.

The DEA dubbed the investigation Operation Pink Tiger, a reference to the nickname of one of the defendants and the fact that the cocaine came wrapped in bright-pink cellophane.

Of course the DEA alleges things happened a certain way. So perhaps you’d like to do some reporting to find out—in the name of excellence—like you do for any other issue when one side makes an unverified claim. What did people who aren’t law enforcement have to say? Carter didn’t even try to ask obvious questions about the bust that the DEA doesn’t want to answer: Did agents catch the right people? How much did the busts cost? What’s the penalty for all these dealers, and do decades in prison fit the crime? And most important, since this is done in the name of stopping drugs, how effective was this bust at reducing the availability of cocaine?

The Seattle Times promises “outstanding reporting,” “quality journalism” and “comprehensive local coverage.” But are you, Mike Carter, providing what your newspaper promises when you regurgitate everything the DEA says? You don’t have give special one-sided coverage to drug issues, Mike Carter—being objective actually means you don’t give softball coverage to the government—so you can stop being a lapdog for the DEA.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.