Yakima man charged with possessing fentanyl for sale, illegal possession of firearm

Yakima County prosecutors have charged a man police said was selling drugs.

In a document filed Tuesday, prosecutors charged Matthew Radcliffe Ruddock, 54, with one count each of possessing fentanyl with intent to deliver and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The latter charge was based on Ruddock’s prior convictions for third-degree assault in Pierce County Superior Court and second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission in Snohomish County Superior Court, according to the charging document.

Ruddock also has prior convictions for felony violation of a no-contact order, unlawful imprisonment, fourth-degree assault and making false statements to a public servant. He has an outstanding warrant from California issued in 1998, according to court documents.

He is being held in the Yakima County jail in lieu of $5,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday.

Ruddock was arrested Dec. 17 following an investigation by the Yakima Police Department’s Proactive Enforcement Unit that included an undercover drug buy. He was arrested at a laundromat prior to officers executing a search warrant at his home in the Mesa Apartments, 1705 Gordon Road.

Officers found drug paraphernalia around the room, baggies containing drugs, two scales, an unspecified amount of cash and a plastic container of what police believe was powdered fentanyl, the affidavit said. Offices also found a Llama .380 pistol with a round in the chamber, a box of ammunition of the same caliber and three holsters.

Investigators said the container with its suspected fentanyl weighed 35.2 grams, while investigators found a gram of methamphetamine. That worked out to the equivalent of about 350 doses, the affidavit said.