Gregory John Harris Sentenced In U.S. District Court

The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on September 18, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, GREGORY JOHN HARRIS, a 57-year-old resident of Humboldt County, California, was sentenced to a term of:

• Probation: 3 years, with 6 months house arrest with electronic monitoring

• Special Assessment: $100

• Fine: $15,000

HARRIS was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana.

In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica T. Fehr, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

From the summer of 2008, until the summer of 2010, Joseph Chartraw organized and profited from a marijuana distribution network across Montana. Chartraw had numerous distributors and drug couriers in Montana. Chartraw's sources of supply were identified by law enforcement as being in California. Chartraw used his cellular telephone to communicate with everyone in his distribution organization - including some of his sources of supply in California.

Chartraw's original connection to a group of marijuana growers and distributors in California was K.F. K.F. would bring together multiple growers at his home whenever Chartraw or one of his couriers would be arriving in California. K.F. would have several individuals bring their marijuana to his home for redistribution to Chartraw or one of his couriers. HARRIS was one of the sources of supply for Chartraw through K.F. HARRIS knew he was supplying marijuana for resale to K.F. and received money for each of the transactions. K.F. was the primary contact for the group and Chartraw until K.F. and Chartraw had a falling out over a vehicle title.

The evidence would show that HARRIS provided at least more than 2.5 kilograms of marijuana but less than 5 kilograms of marijuana to K.F. for redistribution to Chartraw during the course of his involvement in the conspiracy.

Chartraw pled guilty to federal charges and has been sentenced.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that HARRIS will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, HARRIS 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 conducted by the Billings Big Sky Safe Streets Task Force.