Man caught with nearly 100,000 fentanyl pills, firearms sentenced in Tacoma

A Puyallup man was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for drug trafficking and possessing a firearm, according to the Department of Justice.

Emmanuel Xaiver Hunter, 25, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 78 months in prison and five years of supervised release.

Hunter, who also lived in an apartment in Seattle, was identified as a drug trafficker in October 2022 and arrested in November 2022. He pleaded guilty in April 2024.

According to case records, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Auburn Police Department used a confidential source to purchase fentanyl pills from Hunter twice.

In early November 2022, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Hunter’s homes, car, and person, leading to his arrest and the search of his Puyallup home and downtown Seattle apartment.

During the searches, authorities seized 98,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, approximately 1.7 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 1.2 kilograms of cocaine, and five handguns.

One of the seized firearms was a Glock pistol equipped with an auto-sear, making it capable of automatic fire.

Hunter admitted in his plea agreement that he carried the firearm to further his drug trafficking activities, a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.