Henry Joe Gonzales Sentenced in U.S. Federal Court
The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on March 28, 2011, before Senior U.S. District Judge Jack D. Shanstrom, HENRY JOE GONZALES, a 51-year-old resident of Billings, appeared for sentencing. GONZALES was sentenced to a term of:
Prison: 240 months
Special Assessment: $100
Supervised Release: 10 years
GONZALES was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Seykora, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On July 29, 2009, members of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and Eastern Montana HIDTA assisted Montana Probation and Parole at a residence in Billings. The residence was rented by "XX". In plain view in the house was a large amount of crystal methamphetamine.
XX" was taken away from the scene for an interview and a search warrant was obtained for the residence. The search yielded 617grams of pure crystal methamphetamine. "XX" admitted to trafficking methamphetamine between January of 2009 and July 29,2009, and that some of the methamphetamine found in his home was intended to go to GONZALES for distribution.
XX" also admitted to distributing the methamphetamine to several individuals in Billings during the course of the conspiracy. "XX" supplied GONZALES with approximately three to four pounds of methamphetamine for re-distribution. He also supplied another individual with approximately two to two and a half pounds of methamphetamine and approximately two pounds to yet a third individual.
In early 2010, agents spoke with an individual who confirmed he had obtained over 500 grams of methamphetamine from"XX", and that he possessed and distributed the methamphetamine.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that GONZALES will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, GONZALES 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 Billings Big Sky Safe Streets Task Force, the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force, and Montana Probation and Parole.
