A federal judge sentenced a Bremerton couple to prison Friday for trafficking large quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown announced.
David Berryhill, 46, was sentenced to 90 months in prison for possession of narcotics with intent to distribute, while his 50-year-old fiancé Jamie Kelly was sentenced to 72 months in prison.
According to a media release from U.S. Attorney Nick Brown’s office, the two were arrested June 14, 2022, with eight pounds of methamphetamine and two pounds of fentanyl pills in a rental car they were using to transport drugs from Arizona.
Berryhill and Kelly have been detained at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac since their arrest.
According to court records, workers at a UPS store told law enforcement officials that Berryhill was shipping what appeared to be narcotics from their store in 2021.
On June 10, 2022, the two rented a car at Sea-Tac Airport and drove to Phoenix to pick up drugs. They were arrested on June 14 during a traffic stop while crossing from Oregon into Washington.
Berryhill and Kelly both pleaded guilty Oct. 7, 2022.
Investigators learned that Berryhill or Kelly shipped multi-pound quantities of drugs to contacts in North Dakota. Berryhill also went to North Dakota himself and sold drugs, sometimes in tribal communities, officials said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hillary Stuart requested a 110-month sentence for Berryhill.
“Mr. Berryhill also chose to traffic in fentanyl, which is incredibly dangerous and deadly. Just one pill can kill someone, and Mr. Berryhill had thousands,” Stuart wrote to the court. “Two of his clients were previously arrested in North Dakota and named Mr. Berryhill as their supplier. Mr. Berryhill’s target areas in North Dakota and Montana were near tribal communities and in a rural county. Knowing the hazards of the drugs, Mr. Berryhill still chose to export them to other states and sell to individuals.”