A 25-year-old Federal Way man, Daniel Lopez, was sentenced to eight years in Seattle U.S. District Court for using a firearm during an October 2024 kidnapping motivated by a cocaine deal dispute. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd after Lopez was indicted last year, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Court records state that Lopez abducted a woman from her Auburn home because she was the spouse of someone he believed had swindled him, and that he has a history of gang involvement and prior violent, firearm-related offenses. District Judge John C. Coughenour said the sentence was based on “the defendant’s use of a firearm in a violent kidnapping . . . and the violent nature of the charged conduct,” as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Lopez and accomplices abducted a woman in the Seattle area while armed and later forced her and another victim across the U.S.–Mexico border, with the incident ending in Guatemala, and the victims were unable to return to the United States because of their immigration status. After the abduction, Lopez fled to Texas, where he was arrested at a hotel through a joint investigation by the Auburn Police Department and the FBI, including its Houston office. Lopez was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg and sentenced to eight years in federal prison, with U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd stating, “This 8-year prison sentence is focused on protecting the community,” as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
