Skip to main content
Press Release

Rochester Drug Trafficker Sentenced to 16.5 Years in Prison for Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin and Methamphetamine

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Rochester man has been sentenced to 198 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute heroin and methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, Erick Fontain Thomas, 41, was a large-scale heroin and methamphetamine dealer in the Rochester area, and he used numerous guns to protect his drug operation. On August 25, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on Thomas’s Rochester residence. During the search, officers found 4.135 grams of heroin, 1.467 kilograms of methamphetamine, four loaded handguns, a loaded AR-15 style rifle, assorted ammunition and firearms accessories, drug cutting agents, digital scales, and a brick press. Officers also went to a local FedEx Office in Rochester and seized a package that Thomas had directed another individual to send to him at a California address. The package contained $68,740 in cash drug proceeds. On November 12, 2020, officers arrested Thomas in Rochester.

Thomas was sentenced today in U.S. District Court before Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright. On August 23, 2022, Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of possession with the intent to distribute heroin and methamphetamine.

This case was the result of an investigation conducted by the DEA and the Rochester Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph S. Teirab prosecuted the case.

Updated January 20, 2023

Topics
Violent Crime
Drug Trafficking