Skip to main content
Press Release

Four Men Sentenced for Multi-State Meth Distribution Conspiracy

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

HELENA – Ryan Scot Frankforter, 38, of Helena was sentenced to 30 months in prison and 3 years’ supervised release, Deejay Poynter, 37, of East Helena was sentenced to 70 months in prison and 3 years’ supervised release, Calvin Sturdivant Craver, 29, of Dallas, OR was sentenced to 120 months in prison and 5 years supervised release, and Joseph Dean Jayne Jr., 33, of Tucson, AZ was sentenced to 150 months in prison and 5 years’ supervised release.  Federal District Court Judge Charles C. Lovell issued the sentences.

All four men were sentenced following an August 2015, eleven-count indictment.  Frankforter and Poynter were sentenced for distribution of methamphetamine and Craver and Jayne were sentenced for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.  In documents filed with the court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart stated that the government was prepared to show that the four had been involved, in various capacities, in a months-long conspiracy to transport and distribute methamphetamine across state lines.

From approximately December 2014 until May 2015, between 3 and 12 pounds of methamphetamine was transported from Arizona to Montana by Jayne and another co-conspirator and was redistributed by Poynter and Frankforter.  In December of 2014, law enforcement purchased various amounts of methamphetamine from Poynter and Frankforter.  Both Poynter and Frankforter ultimately admitted to their roles in the sales.

In February of 2015, Craver was arrested in Townsend following a traffic complaint.  Following his arrest, a search warrant was executed on his vehicle.  Law enforcement seized approximately three ounces of methamphetamine.  Craver’s co-defendants told law enforcement that Craver and another co-conspirator had been given approximately 8 ounces of methamphetamine to transport from Arizona to Montana, of which the remaining three ounces were found by law enforcement in Craver’s vehicle.

Also in February of 2015, Jayne supplied a co-conspirator with methamphetamine to transport to Montana.  Jayne also personally transported approximately one pound of methamphetamine from Arizona to Montana.  Law enforcement saw Jayne in Montana City but he fled before he could be apprehended.  Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Jayne’s vehicle and recovered approximately a pound of methamphetamine.  Jayne was subsequently involved in a vehicle pursuit with law enforcement on February 20, 2015.  He again fled the scene while a co-conspirator was arrested.  A gun was found in their vehicle.  After being arrested in Oregon in May 2015, Jayne admitted to his role in the conspiracy and that the gun found in the vehicle was his.  Jayne stated that he made three or four trips to Montana transporting one to three pounds of meth on each trip.  Jayne stated that approximately one pound of meth originated in Oregon while the rest was transported from Arizona.

This case was investigated by the Missouri River Drug Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, the Helena Police Department, and the Lewis and Clark County Sherriff’s Office.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart.

Updated June 2, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking
Press Release Number: MELISSA HORNBEIN, Public Information Officer, (406) 457-5277