I greatly appreciate the Federal and State law enforcement and court systems for doling out the justice on the criminal element. Received a bunch of press releases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Montana District with the latest on bad actors in the pipeline. Here’s the gist on just the drug pushers.
Brothers from California Sentenced in Meth, Fentanyl Ring
Martin and Johnathan Topete from Mira Loma received jail time for their participation in a large drug network with methamphetamine by the pounds and fentanyl by the thousands. This pair plus six others from California and Montana distributed these large amounts throughout Butte and Helena from June 2022 to January 2023. The older Martin was the leader of this pack while little brother John laundered the profits and obtained guns. They are the last of this ring to be sentenced, Martin with 20 years and Johnathan with 10.
Coloradoan Convicted in Billings Meth Trafficking
A jury needed only two days to find Moises Zamora of Greely guilty of meth possession with intent to distribute. In November 2022, a Yellowstone County deputy investigated a suspicious vehicle at a convenience store, with Zamora at the wheel. He made tracks and a reckless, high-speed pursuit occurred for ten minutes with the Z Man entering oncoming traffic. A dead end ended the excitement. In the car was a couple fentanyl pills and six pounds of meth, or nearly 22,000 doses. He can look forward to minimum 10 years.
Missoula Man Gets 15 Years with Drug Trafficking for Guns
Keith Andre Green ran his entrepreneurial racket from May ’22 to September ’23, ferrying a pound of meth and a thousand fentanyl pills from Spokane on each trip…three to five times a week. He and his band worked in Mineral and Missoula counties and his trading included firearms and ammo.
Again, a jury needed only a couple days in June to convict on three drug and gun charges.
Great Falls Man Confesses to Meth and Money Laundering
Our senior convict is Daniel Allen Wakeford, age 60, who stored a whopping 100 pounds of methamphetamine in a storage unit in Phoenix. Wakeford ran his network operation for four years since 2020 in the Great Falls and surrounding areas. He drew the attention of investigators, for although they found little legit income, he afforded a new snowmobile worth over $16,000 and a motorhome worth more than $40k. Police made an arrest in Utah on a federal warrant and found $60,000 in cash and documentation to the Arizona storage unit. The hundred pounds would provide a dose of meth to a third of all Montana residents. Wakeford faces 10 years to life behind bars…