Man gets 15-year sentence for drugs found on beach

Published 11:30 am Wednesday, July 29, 2026

SEATTLE — A 69-year-old man was sentenced this month in an attempted drug smuggling case that began five years ago with the discovery of duffel bags filled with drugs on the beach near Port Angeles.

John Michael Sherwood, former resident of Rhode Island, Texas and Chicago, was sentenced July 17 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 15 years in federal prison for three federal felonies connected to “his 2021 scheme to smuggle duffel bags full of drugs across the strait bordering Washington state and Canada via watercraft,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said in a press release.

“What you did came across as a mad man desperate for money, willing to do anything,” the release states Judge Richard A. Jones said during the sentencing hearing. “At the end of the day, what you were doing would cause tremendous harm to thousands of individuals.”

Following a six-day trial in April, Sherwood was convicted of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.

The investigation into the case began April 7, 2021, when a family on a beach near Port Angeles found a partially submerged duffel bag, according to the release.

The duffel bag contained about 60 pounds of methamphetamine and approximately a kilogram of fentanyl, according to the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET).

OPNET detectives responded to the scene, collected evidence and contacted the FBI to coordinate resources. Four days later, a separate beach walker reported seven more duffel bags, which contained approximately 252 pounds of methamphetamine at another beach location, according to OPNET.

The estimated wholesale value of the drugs in Canada was about $1.5 million, according to the release.

The FBI was able to trace the duffel bags to Walmart and pinpointed the sale.

“Sherwood used his debit card to purchase the bags and was caught on surveillance making the purchases,” the release states. “Other evidence such as U-Haul rental records, motel registration and storage locker records linked Sherwood to the smuggling attempt. Phone records revealed his communication with a co-conspirator in Canada about the attempt to smuggle the drugs into Canada via the Strait of Juan de Fuca.”

At the trial, testimony and evidence revealed that Sherwood had brought approximately 300 pounds of methamphetamine and close to a kilogram of fentanyl powder to the Olympic Peninsula from Southern California, the release states.

“He was attempting to use a jet ski and inflatable raft to get the drugs across the Strait to his contact on the coast of Vancouver Island, but the smuggling attempts failed,” the release states.

This is the second time a jury has convicted Sherwood for these crimes, according to the release. After the first trial and conviction, the case team learned of and disclosed alleged misconduct on the part of a government witness and the matter was set for a new trial in front of a different judge.

“The conviction is the result of an extensive investigation by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), U.S. Border Patrol and the Border Patrol Air and Marine Unit, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and OPNET including the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and the Sequim Police Department,” the release states. “The Kootenai County (Idaho) Sheriff’s Office, the Montana Highway Patrol and the Livingston Montana Police Department also assisted with the investigation.”