EVERETT — Jeffery Elmer Etherington wasn’t a polite hotel guest.
There was too much noise and too many people coming and going from Room 231 at the Best Western Hotel in Arlington. Employees wanted him gone so they called the police on Nov. 2.
Arlington police Sgt. Jonathan Ventura responded to the complaint. Unhappy to see police, Etherington jumped from a second-story window and ran off. That left Etherington’s girlfriend to explain the pound of methamphetamine in a gallon-sized plastic bag inside the room.
Police were told that Etherington daily sold about $20,000 worth of meth and heroin, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Janice Albert wrote in court papers. Officers seized drug packaging materials from the room.
At the time Etherington, 33, had two warrants for his arrest. He failed to show up for court hearings on two separate drug and gun crimes from April. He had been out on bail pending his trial.
The Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force took an interest in Etherington after the hotel bust in Arlington.
Three days later task force detectives tracked Etherington down at an Everett Extended Stay Hotel. He was staying in a room rented by a 10-time convicted felon. Police approached Etherington in the parking lot. He hopped a fence and ran onto I-5, where he stopped traffic. He attempted to get into cars.
His getaway was stymied when he stopped an unmarked police car. The undercover detective arrested Etherington. He fought with police before he was subdued, court papers said.
Investigators obtained a warrant to search Etherington’s Chevy Cruze. Inside, they allegedly found 2½ pounds of meth and nearly a pound of heroin.
That day the cleaning crew from the Arlington Best Western called police again. This time they asked what they should do with the guns they found under the bed in the room where Etherington had stayed.
Detectives recovered two assault rifles, multiple rounds of ammunition and a drug ledger, court papers said.
Etherington recently was charged with two counts of drug trafficking and illegal gun possession. He was being held on $250,000 bail.
The Everett man has at least eight prior felony convictions, mainly for drugs and stolen property. He was released from his latest stint in prison last year.
“He could be looking at up to 20 years in prison given his history, the amount of drugs and the firearms,” Albert said.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
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