TACOMA — A Forks man, who police arrested over the summer after finding a golf-ball-sized amount of methamphetamine in a baby’s diaper and the child’s mother hiding in the trunk of a car, is now facing federal charges for allegedly continuing to sell meth and heroin.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Dennis Jason Wayne Fisher, 40, last Friday on several federal drug and firearm charges that are the culmination of a several-months-long Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Taskforce investigation.
“According to the Forks Police Department, he has been very labor intensive to their department and they wanted our help in investigating his drug-dealing activities,” said OPNET Detective Sgt. John Keegan.
Fisher, a convicted felon, is charged locally with endangerment with a controlled substance and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, both stemming from different cases this year.
Keegan said he has a meeting with the FBI today to get an update on what the federal charges mean for Fisher’s local charges.
Fisher appeared in Clallam County Superior Court last Thursday on his state drug charge a day after the federal warrant for his arrest was issued.
Fisher is now held at the SeaTac Federal Detention Center on charges for possession of meth with intent to distribute, distribution of meth, two counts of distribution of heroin and a single count of felon in possession of a firearm. His detention hearing is set for today and an examination is set for Jan. 5.
Meth in diaper
The FBI’s investigation began after June 25, when Forks Police Officer Joseph Solberg stopped Dennis and allegedly found meth in the baby’s diaper.
During the traffic stop on Fir Avenue, Solberg noticed a small child in the back screaming and crying “mommy!” while hitting and grabbing at the back seat.
The child’s mother could be heard pounding on the inside of the trunk saying “Let me out!,” according to Solberg’s narrative.
The woman climbed out of the trunk and made arrangements for a friend to pick up her child before she was taken to jail.
“As [the woman] got the baby and was hugging her, [she] asked, ‘What’s in her diaper?’ ” Solberg wrote.
“Fisher stated, ‘Poop.’ ”
Solberg put on a pair of exam gloves and retrieved a plastic bag containing a golf ball-sized amount of methamphetamine from the baby’s diaper, he said.
After searching the car the next day, police say they found 500 Mexican pesos and a large container of 11 loaded syringes inside, federal court papers say. Most of the loaded syringes contained a dark substance while one contained a clearer liquid, but the Forks Police Department didn’t test the substances.
Fisher was released from the Clallam County jail on his own recognizance June 27.
In addition to standard conditions of release, he was ordered to have no unsupervised contact with children.
Investigation
OPNET investigators found several messages on Fisher’s cellphone in which he talked about dealing heroin, federal court papers say.
FBI Special Agent Ted Halla wrote in his criminal complaint against Fisher that he had known Fisher for 10 months already and had interviewed Fisher and the child’s mother a “number of times” in connection to an unrelated investigation.
Fisher told Halla that he doesn’t keep or store drugs at his home. This fall recovering drug addicts agreed to help law enforcement investigate Fisher’s claim.
They wanted “to help OPNET target the dealers of controlled substances because they feel that their incarceration will help them maintain their sobriety,” the complaint reads.
Earlier this month OPNET provided them with money to purchase drugs from Fisher. They wore audio recording devices as they purchased the drugs, according to court records.
When investigators listened to the audio from the purchase, they overheard Fisher making comments about his AR-15 rifle.
Informants later purchased meth, heroin and a semi-automatic handgun from Fisher, according to the complaint.
Prior conviction
Fisher was convicted March 30, 2016, for possession of heroin and sentenced to one month in jail.
The Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II, affirmed that conviction June 13.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.