East Wenatchee Man Tries Selling Fentanyl on Telegram

An East Wenatchee man is facing additional charges after trying to sell fentanyl through the Telegram app, while awaiting trial for other drug trafficking charges.

21-year-old Brian Mariano Rivera-Martinez was charged with two counts of unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance, and two counts of unlawful possession of counterfeit substances with intent to deliver.

On Dec. 22, an officer with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Task Force in Utah sent a Telegram video of the suspect to the Columbia River Drug Task Force.

The DEA agent was monitoring the suspect through Telegram for several months.

Video footage featured Rivera-Martinez allegedly showcasing a fentanyl pill-pressing operation in his hotel room.

Rivera-Martinez wrote in the chat that his court date got moved to January and that he was able to resume business operations.

Detectives identified the suspect based on a similar case in 2020, where Rivera-Martinez was caught waiting for a shipment of MDMA.

He is currently pending charges from that MDMA trafficking case.

Officers arrested Rivera-Martinez at the Wenatchee hotel he was staying at on Thursday.

Shortly before his arrest, a SWAT team searched his East Wenatchee home and found 15 grams of cocaine, 35 Xanax pills, and 28 fentanyl tablets.

Bail was set at $500,000 through Chelan County Superior Court.