October 28, 2022 4:15 a.m.  

Two California men have been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin from California to Oregon in a case that has Douglas County connections.

A release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Oregon said 36-year old Jack Lewis, of Los Angeles, was sentenced Thursday to 120 months in federal prison and five year’s supervised release. Previously, on June 6th of this year, his accomplice, 56-year old Michael Panoosi, was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release.

According to court documents, in December 2019, detectives from the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team began investigating Panoosi for transporting large quantities of methamphetamine from California to Oregon for distribution and sale in Douglas, Jackson, Josephine and Lane counties. Investigators learned that Panoosi would transport several dozen pounds of methamphetamine on each trip from California and was known to use a driver to transport and deliver drugs. Panoosi had multiple prior drug convictions.

The release said on October 11, 2020, Panoosi, Lewis, and another person were seen driving in northern California toward Oregon. DINT detectives stopped and searched the group in Douglas County and found 46 pounds of meth and one pound of heroin. Detectives located more meth and three handguns in Lewis’s backpack. Two of the guns were loaded, two had obliterated serial numbers and one had a high-capacity magazine. Another handgun and drug packaging materials were found in Panoosi’s backpack.

On October 15, 2020, a federal grand jury in Eugene returned indictments charging Lewis and Panoosi with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

On March 8, 2022, Panoosi pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine. On June 6, 2022, Lewis pleaded guilty to the same charge.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and DINT. It was prosecuted by Jeffrey S. Sweet, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

The Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team was formed as a special investigative unit in 1989, to combat illegal drug activity in Douglas County.