Homeland Security Investigations into Portland area fentanyl trafficking discovered that Blomdahl was a fentanyl dealer in 2021

Tom Joyce
The Center Square

Levi Joseph Blomdahl, 38, of Vancouver, received a seven-year federal prison sentence and five years of supervised release this week for distributing fentanyl and aiding and abetting the armed robbery of a 14-year-old.

Homeland Security Investigations into Portland area fentanyl trafficking discovered that Blomdahl was a fentanyl dealer in 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon’s office.

Blomdahl was the victim of a drug-related robbery and shooting on Hayden Island in Portland, Oregon, in September 2021. He exchanged gunfire with the robber and was hurt. 

The robber, Anthony Pastorino, 44, also of Vancouver, left the scene before police got there. Medical workers took Blomdahl to a local hospital, where he received medical treatment.

A law enforcement investigation found that starting in January 2021, Blomdahl made several trips from Portland to Phoenix, Arizona, to buy fentanyl, which he sold in the Pacific Northwest.

HSI special agents executed a search warrant on Blomdahl’s home in November 2021. They seized about 600 grams of fentanyl, two firearms, ammunition, and other controlled substances.

During the investigation, HSI also learned that Blomdahl aided and abetted in an armed robbery of a 14-year-old boy in Vancouver.

“It was revealed that Blomdahl was in close contact with another individual who, while pretending to be a police officer, stole a motorcycle offered for sale online by the 14-year-old,” the release said.

While the robbery was going on, Blomdahl sent the robber messages, including one telling him to place the boy under fake arrest. Blomdahl also reached out to the victim’s mother, pretending to be the victim, and tried gaining access to the boy’s online sales account.

A federal grand jury in Portland indicted Blomdahl in March 2022, charging him with “possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime,” the release said.

Blomdahl pleaded guilty to these charges in September 2023. Additionally, in May 2023, Pastorino received a 77-month prison sentence, plus five years of supervised release, for his role in the armed robbery.

HSI and the Portland Police Bureau investigated the case. Cassady A. Adams, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, prosecuted it.

The news comes as Oregon lawmakers work to recriminalize drug possession due to the negative consequences of the 2020 voter-approved Measure 110 that decriminalized it.

After the measure became law, fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths more than doubled in Oregon.

This report was first published by The Center Square.