Minnesota Man Sentenced on Methamphetamine Charges

United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a St. Paul, Minnesota, man convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance was sentenced on November 25, 2019, by U.S. District Judge Roberto A. Lange.

Frank Edward Adams, a/k/a Tank Adams, age 45, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison, followed by 7 years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.

Adams was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 14, 2018.  He was found guilty by a jury on August 22, 2019.

The jury found that from December 1, 2015, until November 14, 2018, Adams had knowingly and intentionally combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed with others to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine, which is a Schedule II controlled substance, on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations in South Dakota.

Evidence established that Adams was the nucleus of a large drug trafficking conspiracy that involved well over 4600 grams of methamphetamine. Adams supplied large quantities of methamphetamine several times a month, including the first of the month when tribal assistance funds were available, to the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations in South Dakota.  Adams engaged several dealers on both reservations to distribute meth. 

This case was investigated by the Northern Plains Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Crow Creek Agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Lower Brule Agency, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, the Pierre Police Department, and the Minnesota State Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan N. Dilges and Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy R. Morley prosecuted the case.

Adams was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.