Four More Defendants Sentenced In Southwest Idaho Drug Trafficking Case

Ten Sentenced; Eight Await Sentencing

BOISE – U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced today that four defendants were sentenced this week in federal court for their roles in a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking ring. Twenty defendants were charged in an 89-count indictment filed in May 2013. Ten defendants have been sentenced in the case; eight others have pleaded guilty to the same or related charges and are awaiting sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge sentenced Randy Beal, 59, of Nampa, Idaho, on Monday to 57 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Jerry Lee Holmberg, 65, of Marsing, Idaho, was sentenced to 41 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Cynthia Prado, 32, of Boise, was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and 80 hours of community service for interstate transportation in aid of racketeering enterprise. Beal, Holmberg and Prado were also ordered to serve 80 hours of community service in lieu of a fine after they are released from prison. They pleaded guilty to the charges on October 8, 2013.

Steven Richard, 42, of Eagle, Idaho, was sentenced this morning to two years’ probation for possession of a user amount controlled substance. He pleaded guilty on October 23, 2013.

Co-defendant Lena Kettle, of Caldwell, Idaho, is set for trial on March 11, 2014. The remaining defendant, David Echevarria, is in state custody; an arraignment date has not been set.

According to court proceedings, the conspiracy involved two distribution cells in the Treasure Valley: one led by Jason Holmberg, the other by Andrew Polney. Kenneth Jones in Sacramento, California, supplied multi-pound shipments of methamphetamine for transport to the Treasure Valley for distribution; also, a drug debt was owed by Jason Holmberg and unpaid for a large amount of methamphetamine obtained from Mexican sources of supply transshipped through Phoenix, Arizona, and transported to Idaho by Beal. The group operated from about June 2012 through the time of the various arrests on April 18, 2013 and May 23, 2013.

The indictment is the result of a joint investigation of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), led by the Drug Enforcement Administration in conjunction with the Nampa Police Department and Boise Police Department. Other federal agencies participating in the OCDETF program include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Bureau of Land Management, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Marshals Service.

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.