Defendant Sentenced to 78 months for sourcing Spokane-Area IPO Blood Criminal Street Gang (DOJ)

Spokane, Washington - First Assistant United States Attorney Pete Serrano announced that on June 23, 2026, United States District Court Judge Rebecca Pennell sentenced Jessica Demaine, age 39, to 78 months in federal prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release for her role in a trafficking methamphetamine to the IPO Blood criminal street gang operating in the Spokane area.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives initiated an investigation in 2025 into members of a Spokane based "IPO Blood" violent criminal street gang. An undercover ATF agent purchased multiple firearms as well as a large quantity of methamphetamine from members of this group. During one of the buys, ATF learned the source of supply for the methamphetamine being sold was a woman whose 3-year-old child had gotten into the source's "pow" (street slang for fentanyl) and overdosed. Review of local news articles and police reports revealed the source likely to be Jessica Demaine. Demaine is currently pending state charges stemming from this incident and is presumed innocent (Spokane County Superior Court case 25-1-00660-32). Demaine has claimed her boyfriend, Cameron Franklin, was responsible for the minor child's overdose.

Follow-up investigation by both the ATF and Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed that Demaine was acting as a source of supply to the IPO street gang. Evidence as to Demaine's role as a drug source of supply was in part confirmed by several sources of information, phone records, text messages, and CashApp records.

Demaine was federally indicted for her role as a source of supply to the gang and arrested in May of 2025. Demaine was released, over the United States' objection, to attend inpatient treatment in June 2025. The Court then allowed her to live at an Oxford House (clean and sober house) and ultimately with her sister in the Cheney, Washington area.

In December 2025, Demaine tested positive for methamphetamine, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. The next day, Demaine was located at Franklin's Spokane-area residence when a federal search warrant was executed by DEA stemming from their continued investigation into the Mexico-based source of supply. Demaine was arrested and detained pending sentencing. At her detention hearing, it was learned that despite claims she was caring for an elderly gentlemen, Adult Protective Services ("APS") was called out to assist and advised the residence was "in complete filth." In revoking her pre-trial release and ordering her detained, Magistrate Judge Ekstrom found Demaine was not taking her federal charges seriously, despite the gravity of the situation.

In March 2026, Demaine pled guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Pennel on June 23, 2026, to 78 months in federal prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. In imposing sentence, Judge Pennell found that Demaine was a risk to the community, noting that even after almost losing her child to a drug overdose, she did not change her behavior. Instead, she remained involved with the very man Demaine claimed was at fault and continued to traffic drugs into the community. Judge Pennell also commented on Demaine's lack of acceptance of responsibility for her criminal conduct emphasizing that she was not the victim in this case.

First Assistant United States Attorney Pete Serrano said, "This sentence was well deserved in this case given Demaine's wanton disregard for the safety of the community, including her own child and a vulnerable, elderly gentleman whom she claimed was in her care. I commend ATF, DEA and our local partners for diligently pursuing Demaine, who is connected with an international criminal organization."

"Jessica Demaine's sentence underscores the devastating impact that drug traffickers have on our communities when they choose profit over human life," said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. "By supplying methamphetamine to a violent criminal street gang, Demaine helped fuel the cycle of addiction, violence, and exploitation that threatens public safety in Spokane."

"Rather than accepting responsibility for her profound betrayal of both the law and the most basic responsibilities of parenthood, Ms. Demaine continues to play the victim," said ATF Seattle Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Blais. "But no amount of excuses, deflection, or self-pity can erase the harm caused by her trafficking poison into our community. ATF will remain relentless in its pursuit of drug traffickers, and we will work tirelessly to ensure they are held accountable for the destruction left in their wake."

For additional information, please contact the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington.

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