A 37-year-old Tacoma resident was sentenced Monday to more than four years in federal prison for providing drug contraband within a federal facility, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
The office said David A. McKean smuggled balloons of fentanyl and heroin into the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, known as FDC-SeaTac, by concealing them inside his body and distributing them to inmates in his unit.
The office explained that McKean appeared at a supervised release hearing on Sept. 8, 2023, at the U.S. District Courthouse in Tacoma with heroin and fentanyl on his person.
McKean was ordered detained at FDC-SeaTac during that hearing and, prior to his admission to the facility, swallowed balloons of drugs with the intent to smuggle them inside, the office reported.
McKean began distributing the narcotics shortly after arriving at the detention center, the office reported.
The office reported that two inmates who received fentanyl from McKean suffered poisonings—one on the evening of Sept. 9, 2023, and another the following morning.
The office confirmed that the first overdose was reversed by inmates and Bureau of Prisons staff using multiple doses of naloxone.
The office said the second overdose also required naloxone and hospitalization.
Following the overdoses, the office stated that Bureau of Prisons employees searched McKean’s cell and recovered heroin, fentanyl, suboxone and other suspected contraband.
According to the office, McKean was also facing 28 admitted supervised release violations that arose during his supervision for a prior federal conviction.
The office said the court imposed an additional sentence of four months for those violations.