Cheney man arrested as part of ring selling marijuana to residents, students

Spokane Regional Drug Task Force leader says trafficking of harder drugs on the rise

By BECKY THOMAS

Staff Reporter

A Cheney marijuana ring was shut down last week, following a six-month investigation by the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force.

Brandon M. Collins, 27, was arrested Thursday, Jan. 27 for possession with intent to deliver and delivery of a controlled substance. He is the alleged leader of an operation that police say distributed more than five pounds of marijuana per week.

Washington State Patrol Sgt. Ken Demello leads the drug task force and said the Collins ring was likely a major supplier of marijuana in Cheney and surrounding areas, selling largely to students at Eastern Washington University and other “young adults.”

Detectives executed a search warrant Jan. 27 at 519 Patterson St. in Cheney, seizing 3.5 pounds of marijuana and two vehicles and arresting Collins. A second suspect, EWU student Brandon Foscue, 25, is wanted on charges of delivery.

Collins bought his supply from a source in Bellevue, and he regularly drove there to pick up drugs, Demello said.

While the bust was large for Cheney, Demello said it was a “lower to midlevel case” for the drug task force. He said the bust led to a suspect in Bellevue.

“Eventually there's going to be a person at the center,” he said. “Generally we try to go up the chain. We would rather target the source of supply rather than the users.”

Investigators also suspect Collins and others laundered more than $380,000 through Northern Quest Casino over the last three years.

Demello said the bust was good for Cheney, but warned that the community had bigger problems than marijuana.

“I've been on this task force for 10 years, and the last two or three years, we have seen a significant increase in cocaine and meth trafficking in the Cheney area,” he said. “It seems of late we're finding more and more cases, more and more work out there.”

Demello said Cheney is beginning to look like “Spokane 10 years ago,” with larger supplies of hard drugs being trafficked here.

“I've literally seen people from Idaho drive to Cheney to pick up meth to traffic it in Coeur d'Alene,” he said.

Demello said he didn't know why drug trafficking seems to be increasing in Cheney, but said the purpose of the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force was to support local agencies in the fight against drugs.

The task force, founded in 1988 and funded by a federal Justice Assistance Grant, employs investigators from the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, WSP, Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police departments.

Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].