Vashon drug case continued

Published 10:30 am Tuesday, February 24, 2026

The arraignment for the Vashon man accused of selling methamphetamine and fentanyl to island residents was continued to March 12 after his defense attorney told the court he is in in-patient treatment.

Gabriel Timmen, 46, appeared virtually Wednesday, Feb. 19, when defense asked that the arraignment take place in a couple weeks, citing his treatment status.

The court did not decide Wednesday whether the case will proceed through traditional prosecution or King County Drug Court, according to Douglas Wagoner of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Wagoner said The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said it will continue working with partners at the King County Sheriff’s Office to argue that the case should proceed through the traditional court process rather than Drug Court. But the court will ultimately decide.

Conditions requested by prosecutors remain in effect, including that Timmen report any change of mailing address to the court within one business day, commit no new criminal law violations, and not use, possess or consume alcohol, nonprescribed drugs or controlled substances, according to the court file.

In a police interview after his arrest Jan. 30, Timmen told detectives he had sold narcotics to at least six people on Vashon and said he frequently obtained drugs in Seattle, according to police documents.

He was released Feb. 3 because the investigation was still ongoing and prosecutors lacked information needed to file charges before the deadline to keep him in custody, Wagoner said.

Prosecutors filed two felony counts Feb. 4 — delivery and possession with intent to deliver — tied to two controlled buys conducted Jan. 22 using a transactional informant wearing a wire at an accessory dwelling unit in the 9300 block of Southwest Gorsuch Road, according to a probable cause statement. The suspected fentanyl from the buys tested positive on a TruNarc device, police documents said.

King County records show at least eight people on Vashon Island have died since 2020 with fentanyl listed as a contributing factor, though the records do not provide a definitive count of fentanyl-related deaths on the island.

One of the Vashon deputies, Jeff Hancock, returned to patrol Vashon in June 2024 after years away from the island.

Since he has been back, he has seen first-hand the island’s fentanyl epidemic.

“Fentanyl and all narcotics are a huge issue on Vashon — it’s destroying people’s lives and people are dying,” Hancock said. “There are a few people that are dealing this poison. We know who they are and Gabe was the preeminent one.”

Hancock said deputies try to connect people struggling with addiction to treatment and other services. “We want to help the addicts … But the people that are selling them this, the people that are keeping them down, it’s time for holding those people accountable,” he said.

Timmen, Hancock said, has recently been the most preeminent drug dealer on Vashon.

Still, even with substantial evidence, these cases can be difficult to prosecute, Hancock said, adding that once a case is referred to prosecutors, it is no longer in deputies’ hands.

“The sheriff’s office absolutely takes the narcotic crisis, especially fentanyl, extremely seriously,” Hancock said. “We’re out there, we’re doing what we can do.”

The same residence was included in a search operation conducted by federal and local law enforcement agencies of 19 locations throughout the Seattle region in the pre-dawn hours of June 30, 2021. At the time, no arrests were made at the location.