Federal prosecutors have charged more than 100 people with fentanyl trafficking in downtown Portland since 2023, seizing more than 100 kilograms of the drug, 40 firearms and $1.3 million in cash proceeds, U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford announced Aug. 25.
The seized fentanyl is enough to kill 50 million people, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon, as reported by the Portland Tribune. That's roughly 11 times Oregon's population.
Bradford described the operation as a direct response to a period when county and state systems could not hold or prosecute street-level fentanyl dealers.
The joint effort paired the FBI, an assistant U.S. attorney, PPB's Central Precinct Bike Squad and the Neighborhood Response Team for late-night operations targeting suspected dealers.
"To many people, downtown Portland simply felt unsafe – and it was," Bradford said at the Aug. 25 press conference, adding that armed fentanyl dealers had contributed to higher crime rates and overdoses three years ago.
Bradford credited the operation with reducing trafficking, violent crime and overdoses downtown, though the announcement did not include data to support those claims.
Statewide, Oregon overdose deaths have fallen for two consecutive years, dropping from 1,833 in 2023 to approximately 1,100 in 2025, according to preliminary Oregon Health Authority figures reported by The Oregonian. No Portland-specific data was provided.
FBI Portland Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson said the effort is ongoing and warned that anyone dealing downtown will be caught.
Sentences and recent arrests
The U.S. Attorney's Office highlighted five cases. Among them:
- Bexon Calix-Rivera was arrested multiple times starting in January 2023. In June 2024, PPB officers saw him carrying a hatchet and conducting hand-to-hand drug deals downtown. He was booked into Multnomah County Jail and released the same day. A federal grand jury later indicted him, and he was sentenced in June 2025 to six years and six months in prison. He faces deportation to Honduras.
- Olvin Fabricio Diaz-Centeno pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Searches of a vehicle, storage unit and residence yielded approximately 1.2 kilograms of counterfeit M30 pills, 2.1 kilograms of powdered fentanyl, three pistols and drug-processing equipment. He was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison and faces deportation to Honduras.
- Matthew Eugene Garlock pleaded guilty in May 2026 to possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. Prosecutors say he sold fentanyl downtown from January through April 2025 and continued dealing after multiple local arrests. He remains in federal custody awaiting sentencing.
The operation's most recent known arrest came Friday, Aug. 21, National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day, when federal agents arrested Gerson Hernandez-Ramos, 26, near a bike path in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, seizing 251 grams of fentanyl, a digital scale, packaging materials and two walkie-talkies.
He is held without bail.
The U.S. Attorney's Office described more than 80% of defendants as people from Honduras and Mexico who were in the country without legal authorization. Officials did not provide further detail on immigration status.
Oregon's House Bill 4002, which took effect Sept. 1, 2024, ended four years of drug decriminalization under Measure 110 and re-established small-amount drug possession as a misdemeanor.
The Lines for Life substance abuse helpline is available 24/7 at 1-800-923-4357 or linesforlife.org.
