Special Report: An inside look at the drug crisis in Central Oregon

(Update: Adding video, comments from Sarabia and Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp)

CULVER, Ore. (KTVZ)-- Israel Sarabia of Culver is headed to federal prison for nearly six years for trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine to Madras and Redmond.

Sarabia and an accomplice were charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl, and distributing fentanyl and methamphetamine back in March of 2023. He pleaded guilty last August to federal drug possession and distribution charges.

Sarabia, who reached out recently to speak with NewsChannel 21, said, "I got arrested back in last year, in February. And I got sent to the federal detention center in Sheridan. I did about 10 months or so there, and then I got switched to a drug treatment facility out in Madras."

According to federal prosecutors, Sarabia operated a large drug trafficking organization in Central Oregon, with at least two individuals working under him. He was considered the biggest trafficker in Redmond and Madras,

"One of the biggest client base that there is around is people who work their 9 to 5," Sarabia told us Monday. "You know, there's there's hundreds and hundreds of people that, they have their home,. that have a really high-end job, that they get paid really good, that are successful, but they are hiding their pain."

But that's not the full picture, says Deschutes County Sheriff's Sergeant Kent Vander Kamp of the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team.

"I would disagree with - that might just be his client base, but I would disagree with that," he said. "I think that the availability of these pills on the internet and the street have created this very broad base of victims."

Sarabia said the drugs he sold came primarily from the Portland area, and he admits people working for him picked them up and delivered them to Central Oregon.

"Majority of me was all, just, you know, doing my scouting," he said. "I was doing it for a couple of years, and I eventually, built, you know, a network of people that I can place orders from and distribute myself. They normally, from the Central Oregon area, they'll normally just go to Portland and come back."

Sarabia's description of the drug chain mirrors what Vander Kamp says he sees every day.

"One of the hubs for the Honduran cartel or the Honduran transport groups is Portland," he said. "And in particular southeast Portland, along the Gresham border. And that's where the majority of our fentanyl is coming from right now."

Although Israel is headed to federal prison, Vander Kamp says that leaves a vacant spot for a new trafficker. But he's hopeful federal prosecution and a lengthy sentence will make a difference.

"When you have a 70-month sentence in federal prison hanging over your head, the next guy behind him will look at that a little bit harder," Vander Kamp said. "But that doesn't mean we're going to change or stop."