A sign welcomes visitors to the Crow Reservation in Montana. Photo: Jimmy Emerson, DVM
Twenty-seven people were convicted as part of a broad meth and fentanyl-trafficking ring based on the Crow Indian Reservation but tied to three other reservations in Montana, as well as Washington state and Mexico, Montana’s U.S. Attorney announced Thursday.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Jesse Laslovich said the operation to target the drug-trafficking ring Spear Siding was one of the largest drug trafficking investigations in Montana in recent years. It started in June 2022 and ended in a raid in April 2023. Laslovich announced the convictions at a news conference in Billings on Thursday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal court documents, two homes on the Crow Reservation, one of them called Spear Siding, where some of the top dealers lived, were the center of the trafficking ring and dealt meth on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations in southeastern Montana.
https://t.co/cQHoqXZ4Bg pic.twitter.com/wDOjSn7God
— US Attorney Montana (@USAO_MT) November 14, 2024
But the ring also expanded to Rocky Boy’s and the Fort Belknap reservations and into Billings and Havre. The conspirators would trade drugs for pounds of meth and guns at the Spear Siding property, and sent proceeds from the drug sales to Washington, California, and Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“The Spear Siding trafficking organization moved onto the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations to exploit and prey on persons addicted to meth and fentanyl, all due to greed. While meth and fentanyl distribution impacts all of Montana, these drugs continue to disproportionately devastate Indian Country,” Laslovich said in a statement. “As this Spear Siding investigation shows, Montana’s Indian reservations are not a safe haven for out-of-state traffickers who think they can move in, set up shop, and enlist local residents to peddle drugs.”
Twenty-seven people pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, firearms crimes, or both, his office said. Two alleged co-conspirators are still on the run, including one of the top-level people behind the operation.
Wendell Lefthand and his sister Frederica Lefthand, who both lived at the Spear Siding home, each had a hand in running the operation. Wendell Lefthand initially was running the operation along with one of the now-fugitives, whom he met through a meth distributor in Washington. That unnamed co-conspirator moved to the Spear Siding home, after which “business started booming,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal investigation of large meth trafficking ring on Crow and Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations results in 27 convictions https://t.co/cQHoqXZ4Bg
— US Attorney Montana (@USAO_MT) November 14, 2024
Wendell Lefthand was arrested in June 2022 on a different charge, and his sister took over the Montana operation, dealing “pounds and pounds and pounds” of meth, according to court documents.
She and the co-conspirator allegedly built an operation that sent hundreds of pounds of meth to the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations to be distributed to lower-level dealers.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Indian Affairs conducted and assisted with the investigation.
“Cartel members preyed on an already vulnerable population, further fueling the drug crisis on Montana’s Indian Reservations, and employing members of the community to peddle poison to their own people,” Salt Lake City FBI Special Agent in Charge Shohini Sinha said in a statement. “Too many lives have been lost to illicit drugs. Too many families have suffered. The FBI and our partners will not stop pursuing criminals harming our communities.”
The 27 people convicted received the following sentences, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office:
Wendell Lefthand, of Lodge Grass: 180 months in prison
Frederica Lefthand, of Lodge Grass: 288 months in prison
Roderick Plentyhawk, of Billings: 300 months in prison
Carly Joy James, of Billings: 84 months in prison
Jeffrey Prettypaint, of Crow Agency: 60 months in prison
Darlon Richard Lefthand, of Billings: 84 months in prison
Keilee Shambrae Diaz, of Hardin: 12 months, one day in prison
Zachary Douglas Bacon, of Garryowen: time served
Morgan Luke Hugs, of Hardin: 48 months in prison
Anthony Springfield, of Hardin: time served
Haley James, of Billings: time served
John Littlehead, of Billings: 48 months in prison
Marianna Wallace, of Omak, Washington: 36 months in prison
Yvon Lopez Flores, of Omak, Washington: 48 months in prison
Jacklyn Littlebird, of Lame Deer: time served
Adrienne LaForge, of Lame Deer: 24 months in prison
Geofredo James Littlebird, of Lame Deer: pending sentencing
Nancy Hartsock, of Billings: 72 months in prison
Joe Simpson, of Lame Deer: 240 months in prison
Melanie Bloodman, of Billings: time served
Renita Redfield, of Lodge Grass: 63 months in prison
Daniel Jiminez-Chavez, of Omak, Washington: 84 months in prison
Sayra Longfox, of Lodge Grass: pending sentencing
Emma King, of Lame Deer: pending sentencing
Antonio Infante, of Brewster, Washington: 128 months in prison
Elisha Felicia, of Wyola: 60 months in prison
Nicole Schwalbach, of Billings: 120 months in prison
This story originally appeared on Daily Montanan on November 15, 2024. It is published under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 4.0).
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