Press Release
Heather Louise Manyen Sentenced In U.S. District Court
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Montana
The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on June 20, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, HEATHER LOUISE MANYEN, a 32-year-old resident of Laurel, was sentenced to a term of:
Prison: 34 months
Special Assessment: $100
Community Service: 400 hours
Supervised Release: 5 years
MANYEN was sentenced in connection with her guilty plea to conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute and distribution.
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:
In October of 2010, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force (BSSSTF) received information about a large scale methamphetamine distribution organization operating in Yellowstone County.
In the spring of 2011, law enforcement began performing electronic surveillance on C.M., an individual living in Billings. Investigators discovered that C.M., D.M. and A.H. began supplying the larger methamphetamine organization in late 2010 with methamphetamine after the prior source of supply had a run in with law enforcement. C.M., D.M. and A.H., had several distributors that sold the methamphetamine for the organization. One of the distributors was Julie Rozell. Rozell admitted to distributing approximately four pounds of methamphetamine for the organization. One of her distributors was HEATHER MANYEN.
During the investigation law enforcement learned that HEATHER MANYEN was a distributor of methamphetamine for Rozell from approximately March 2011, and continuing thereafter until late January 2012. HEATHER MANYEN worked with Frank Manyen to distribute the methamphetamine obtained from Rozell. HEATHER MANYEN and Frank Manyen together distributed the methamphetamine they obtained from Rozell in the greater Billings area. HEATHER MANYEN and Frank Manyen obtained approximately 700 grams of methamphetamine from Rozell, which they in turn distributed to their own customers.
Frank Manyen and Julie Rozell pled guilty to federal charges and have been sentenced.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that MANYEN will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, MANYEN 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 and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force.
Updated January 14, 2015
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