Utah man sentenced to 13 years in meth conspiracy

BILLINGS—A Utah man who admitted supplying methamphetamine to others for distribution in the Billings area was sentenced today to 13 years in prison and five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Mark Terry Quintana, 27, of Price, Utah, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

In court documents, the prosecution said that a 2016 drug trafficking investigation of meth and heroin transportation from Utah to Montana led to Quintana as the source of the meth. A local distributor told law enforcement he had bought at least $40,000 in narcotics from Quintana in a month. Agents also conducted a controlled buy of four ounces of meth from Quintana in Utah.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Godfrey prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 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.

XXX