The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on July 6, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, NICHOLAS ALBRECHT, a 31-year-old resident of Butte, appeared for sentencing. ALBRECHT was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 240 months

Special Assessment: $100

Supervised Release: 10 years

ALBRECHT was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara J. Elliott, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

Between April 2009 and June 2010, ALBRECHT conspired to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine in Butte and throughout Montana.

A Confidential Source ("CS") would have testified that on four separate occasions in a one month period of time, he/she and ALBRECHT met with their Source of Supply ("SOS") in Haugen and obtained a total of approximately 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine. ALBRECHT then distributed most of the methamphetamine to Butte customers. The "CS" would have also testified that in approximately June or July of 2009, ALBRECHT met with the "SOS" at a motel in Rocker where ALBRECHT obtained a total of two additional pounds of methamphetamine to distribute.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that ALBRECHT will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, ALBRECHT does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.

 

 

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