Bakken Drug Case Defendant Sentenced In Federal Court

The United States Attorney's Office announced on February 18, 2014, in a court proceeding in United States District Court in Billings, Judge Donald W. Molloy sentenced Samuel Davis Everson III, 47, of Fairview, North Dakota to 168 months imprisonment and five years supervised release for the offense of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. The charge against Everson alleged that he committed the offense between April 2012 and September 20, 2013, in Sidney and Fairview, Montana, when he possessed pure methamphetamine with the intent to distribute as part of a scheme whereby he and others distributed large amounts of pure methamphetamine in northeastern Montana.

The term pure methamphetamine refers to the purity contained in the transacted amount which is usually "cut" with inert ingredients that make the actual product less pure but more profitable as drugs are generally sold based on quantity not quality.

The prosecution was part of Project Safe Bakken, a cooperative effort between federal and state prosecutors and federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in Montana and North Dakota. The investigation in the case was performed by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigations, the Sidney Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

United States Attorney Michael Cotter, whose office prosecuted the case in federal court, stated "This case demonstrates the serious sort of drug trafficking at play in the Bakken oil fields. But it also shows how cooperative work between federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies as part of Project Safe Bakken can successfully combat crime in the region. This effort will continue for as long as it takes to ensure the Bakken is safe place to live and work."