Federal prosecutors indicted an alleged Federal Way drug dealer, along with five other suspects, last Wednesday after at least two years of watching the “street-level dealer turned high-level, multiple-pound narcotics supplier,” according to court documents.

Michael Duane Humburgs, a convicted child molester who goes by the street name “BM,” was charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and possession of a firearm after a six-month-long investigation by the King County Sheriff’s Office and Drug Enforcement Administration. After obtaining search warrants, investigators found a Glock 19 handgun and $89,646 in Humburgs’ residence, located at the 3500 block of Southwest 339th Place in Federal Way. They also found 40 capsules of white heroin and 2-and-a-half pounds of marijuana in a black Chevrolet Impala detectives witnessed him driving on Feb. 9.

SWAT teams raided five residences, four vehicles, one storage unit and two stash houses across multiple cities on April 29. In their raid, they found pounds of drugs, thousands of dollars in cash, and multiple illegal weapons.

Detectives first trained their eyes on Humburgs after an informant told them he/she could buy narcotics from him in March 2014. After a successful controlled buy of cocaine and methamphetamine the next month, detectives tried to make another purchase that summer, but the informant told them Humburgs was allegedly “no longer selling to individuals at the street level.”

In a separate arrest, a drug trafficker told officers that Humburgs was his/her “main source of supply.” But when detectives asked the person to help take down Humburgs, that person refused, stating he/she saw Humburgs point guns at people and “would rather face the drug charge than set up Humburgs out of fear Humburgs would kill him/her.”

In late 2014, Federal Way police caught Humburgs with two others possessing wads of cash and a bag of methamphetamine under the car. Although the car Humburgs was driving was impounded, detectives declined to apply for a search warrant and the vehicle was released for pickup. But as detectives drove the car from secured storage to a public spot, a bag of “suspected” heroin rolled out from underneath the driver’s seat.

In the summer of 2015, detectives found an informant who made several controlled purchases from Humburgs’ alleged accomplices.

“In December of 2015, [King County Sheriff’s Office] detectives recognized that their investigation was progressing from individual drug dealers in the local area to a larger scale drug trafficking network with possible ties to areas outside their jurisdiction,” charging documents state. “At this point, the [King County Sheriff’s Office] asked DEA agents to assist in their investigation of Humburgs and his associates.”

In February of this year, Pierce County Superior Court allowed detectives to install a tracking device on Humburgs’ burgundy Porche Cayenne.

For three months, detectives watched Humburgs exchange drugs and money and drop off contraband at two stash houses in Tacoma. They watched him communicate with other known drug dealers, who would later be incriminated based on those actions, and they continued to make controlled purchases of illegal drugs through informants.

One suspect they witnessed Humburgs with would eventually admit to trafficking drugs to Guam with Humburgs. In November 2010, inspectors with U.S. Custom and Border Protection and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement found that suspect with wads of cash “hidden” in his suitcase. In interviews after the discovery, the suspect admitted the money was “dirty” and that he was traveling with a friend named “Michael.”

Humburgs was on the same flight with the suspect that day.

So far, Humburgs and five other men have been charged in connection with the wide-scale drug trafficking ring, but detectives arrested at least four additional suspects during the April 29 search.

Humburgs will be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. on June 6 at the Union Station Courthouse in Tacoma.