Editor’s note: Updated at 3:02 p.m. on 8/13/24 to accurately reflect Jerl’s sentencing amount. MyBellinghamNow apologizes for the error.

BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A prolific Whatcom County drug dealer has been sentenced four years after his initial arrest.

41-year-old Nathan Wayne Jerls will spend the next seven and a half years in prison after he pled guilty to dealing heroin from his residence in Bellingham. Whatcom County Sheriff’s detectives learned in 2018 that Jerls was a “large scale” drug dealer in the county and began buying drugs from him through an informant.

The detectives eventually secured a search warrant and found over half a pound of heroin, several grams of methamphetamine, other drug related items and several illegal firearms.

Jerls was arrested in July 2020 and after several delays to his jury trial, he pled guilty on June 11 of this year.

His 7.5-year sentence includes a year of community custody.