Stock image

A Bend man was sentenced on Friday to nine years in federal prison and five years of supervised release for possessing 20 pounds of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it.

From August 2020 to June 2021, Isaac Kitashima and co-conspirators ran a drug trafficking operation between California, Oregon and Hawaii, according to a release fro the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In August 2020, a co-conspirator’s truck was found abandoned after an attempted traffic stop. The truck contained 20 pounds of methamphetamines and information linking it to Kitashima, according to federal prosecutors. Between February and May 2021, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intercepted drug packages that were part of Kitashima’s operation in Oregon and Hawaii.

Kitashima’s Hawaii house was searched in September 2021. Officials found firearms and methamphetamine in the house, and he was arrested.

In February 2024, Kitashima pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.