POCATELLO – Leland Dean Johnson, 31, of Rupert, Idaho, and Richard Dean Rivera, 44, of Burley, Idaho, were sentenced in United States District Court in Pocatello today for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill sentenced Johnson to 151 months in prison; Rivera to 57 months. Both were ordered to serve five years of supervised release. Rivera must also complete 200 hours of community service. They pled guilty to the charges on April 25, 2012.

According to the plea agreements, Johnson admitted that on April 19, 2011, he arranged to sell four ounces of methamphetamine to an individual in Burley. At a later meeting, Johnson sold this person in excess of 50 grams of actual methamphetamine. On May 17, 2011, Johnson again made arrangements to sell methamphetamine to the same individual . When unable to complete the transaction, Johnson gave Rivera’s name and telephone number to the individual. Rivera later met with the individual in Burley and completed the transaction. Both Johnson and Rivera admitted the substance they were selling was methamphetamine.

The indictment was the result of a joint investigation of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), led by the Idaho State Police, in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.