Missoula meth dealer sentenced to seven years

MISSOULA—Missoula resident Canon Jack Byers, 32, who admitted to distributing more than seven pounds of methamphetamine in 2018, was sentenced today to seven years in prison and five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Byers pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to distribute meth.

Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

Prosecutors said evidence would show that in 2018, Byers was identified as a meth dealer by confidential informants. One informant bought about five pounds of meth from Byers from March to May. Byers, who was arrested on May 20, 2018 on an outstanding probation violation, admitted to law enforcement that he had obtained more than seven pounds of meth from March until his arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara Elliott prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Montana Regional Violent Crimes 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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