The Auburn Police Department reports that it seized 82,400 fentanyl pills, 1.8 pounds of heroin, 3.8 pounds of methamphetamine, $173,138 in U.S. currency and two firearms from a Kent man’s apartment after serving two residential search-arrest warrants on the afternoon of April 20.
On April 25, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Arron L. Patterson, 32, with violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act (possession with intent) and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Patterson is in the King County jail. His next court date is his arraignment, where he’ll enter a plea. That’s scheduled for 9 a.m. May 9 in room E1201A of the King County Courthouse.
The bust capped a several months-long investigation by the Special Investigations Unit of the Auburn Police Department that used confidential informants, one of whom purchased fentanyl from the suspect on several occasions.
At Patterson’s first appearance before a judge on April 21, prosecutors argued he is a danger to the community and unlikely to return to court if released. The judge was asked to hold him in jail on $300,000 bail. The judge found probable cause to hold him for unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree and set bail at $250,000.
In a 2021 Auburn case in which Patterson was the defendant, the prosecutor had asked for $25,000 bail, arguing that he was a danger to the community. The first appearance judge in that case found probable cause for drug possession with intent and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree and set bail at $25,000. The documents required for filing the case were referred to the prosecutor’s office months later and are being reviewed now.
Prior to that, the last case involving Patterson that police referred to the office was in 2014, and it saw him convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree and a domestic-violence felony violation of a court order. His sentence, ordered April 10, 2015, was 75 months for count 1 and 60 months for count 2, with 123 days credit for time already served. That was handled by the Department of Corrections, and the sentence was in line with statewide guidelines, according to the spokesman.
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