Eagle Butte Man Sentenced for Meth Trafficking

Acting United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that an Eagle Butte, South Dakota, man was sentenced of Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance on August 2, 2021, by Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court.

Anthony Story, age 43, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.

Story was indicted by a federal grand jury on August 11, 2020.  A jury found Story guilty after a two-day trial on May 19, 2021.

The conviction stemmed from an incident on August 14, 2019, in Eagle Butte, wherein Story knowingly possessed 37 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute the drug.  Story was arrested while he was sleeping inside a camper in Eagle Butte next to a lightbulb fashioned into a pipe, and a small bag holding the methamphetamine and a digital scale.  Law enforcement officers discovered Story and the methamphetamine while searching for another individual.  Plastic bags holding the methamphetamine were submitted to the South Dakota Forensic Laboratory for DNA testing.  The DNA profiles obtained from swabs of the plastic bags were found to match Story’s DNA profile.

The investigation was conducted by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services, Northern Plains Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron J. Cook prosecuted the case.   

Story was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.