Bozeman father, son sentenced for heroin trafficking

MISSOULA—A father and his son who admitted distributing heroin they obtained in Denver to customers in the Bozeman area were sentenced to prison this week, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen on Wednesday sentenced Kyle Brooks, 65, of Bozeman, to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Judge Christensen on Thursday sentenced Kyle Brooks’ son, Ian Brooks, 28, of Bozeman, to 14 months in prison and four years of supervised release. Judge Christensen also ordered the forfeiture of $56,450 seized in the case.

Kyle Brooks pleaded guilty on Nov. 1 to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and to possession with intent to distribute heroin. Ian Brooks pleaded guilty on Oct. 31 to possession with intent to distribute heroin.

In June 2018, the Missouri River Drug Task Force began investigating Kyle and Ian Brooks for distributing heroin, learned they had a number of customers in the Bozeman area and that they were planning an out-of-town trip to get more heroin, the prosecution said in court records. After that trip, law enforcement surveilled the pair for weeks and witnessed them conduct numerous drug sales.

On July 13, officers monitored a car Kyle and Ian Brooks drove to Denver, where it stopped at a strip mall for about an hour before returning to Bozeman. Law enforcement stopped the car when it returned to Bozeman on July 16, served a search warrant on the vehicle and found three bags of heroin, containing a total of 204.33 grams of heroin, which is the equivalent of about 2,040 doses, 10 vials with syringes, a bottle of unknown pills and $56,456 cash. A laboratory analysis determined there also was about 2 grams of diclazepam, a controlled substance.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Betley prosecuted the case which was investigated by the Missouri River Drug Task Force.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

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