Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
A major federal law enforcement effort dubbed Operation Blue Prairie has led to the indictment of 26 individuals involved in an opioid trafficking ring that supplies narcotics to three North Dakota reservations.
At the center of this “absolutely unprecedented narcotics enforcement activity” in Indian Country are Detroit, Mich., based brothers Darius and Baquan Sledge. North Dakota’s U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley outlined some of the details in the case at a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 7 after the last defendant had made his initial appearance in federal court.
The Sledge brothers targeted the Spirit Lake, Fort Berthold and Turtle Mountain Reservations in North Dakota, and both are accused of operating a Continuous Criminal Enterprise, or CCE, since 2015. They imported tens of thousands of oxycodone pills at a value of $2.5 million into the three reservations by targeting and exploiting largely underserved Native American populations in our state. They discovered they could get a “premium” here, from predominantly women, Wrigley asserted. If convicted, federal law prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of them.
Wrigley has served as the U.S. Attorney since 2010. He said, “One of the first things I did was spend time talking with the tribal chairs and leadership.” They told him that narcotics was an epidemic problem among Native American populations with overdose deaths reported weekly, and so his office intentionally coordinated efforts with other federal agencies in “clogging capillaries of narcotics distribution” in Indian Country. Federal agencies involved in the effort include the BIA, U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, DEA and ATF.
“This challenge is real and is not being met,” Wrigley said.
Among the defendants, eight are from Detroit, Mich., and one lives in Kentucky but also has ties to Detroit. The other 17 are North Dakotans, who Wrigley said became involved either feed their own addictions or with hopes of financial gain.
Baquan Sledge, Darius Sledge, Dondiago Jones, Derrick Walker II, Terrence Johnson, Deante Edwards, Anthony Wade, Lillian Lee, Twon Stepfone Boyd, Ira Mae Snell, Grayson Dye, Martina Whitetail, Robert Touche, Calvin Dubois, Edward Dubois, Chantel Longie, Kerry Morin, Kasondra Grant, Constance Aiken, Shanae Dubois, Faith Liddell, Cheryl Lilley, Farron Michelle Delong, Johnna Goodiron, Shanel Mudgett and Carleen Counts have all been indicted and face drug conspiracy, money laundering and narcotic trafficking-related charges.
The operation also involves the forfeiture of tens of thousands of dollars as well as several firearms, according to Wrigley.
The co-conspirators smuggled the blue oxycodone pills manufactured in Detroit into the prairies of North Dakota on airplanes, in cars and even by train, which was the premise behind the name “Operation Blue Prairie”. Of the individuals charged, eight have changed their pleas to guilty. The remaining have all made at least an initial appearance and now await trial. The initial trial date has been set for Feb. 23, 2021, but they will likely be continued, Wrigley said. The investigation is ongoing. All are being prosecuted in North Dakota.
Wrigley addressed the fact that many of the co-conspirators are Native American women.
“I think that the phrase human trafficking would not be inappropriate to use in a very real way... To some degree or another, there is a lot of victimization involved,” he said. As many are in a tough situation, several factors will determine the appropriate punishment for what they refer to as the “street-level dealers”, such as if they have any criminal history, whether they cooperated with law enforcement and if they’ve sought treatment for their addiction.
“Your (addiction) problem makes you a victim oftentimes,” Wrigley said. “When you engage the distribution of these narcotics, you’ve entered into a conspiracy with others to feed yours and other people’s addictions.” Wrigley urged those struggling with addiction to seek help instead.
As the Transcript has reported before, Indian Country has significant law enforcement challenges. Wrigley pointed out that the BIA is staffed at 40%, which means in a place that needs 10 officers, there are only four at work. “We gotta get serious about staffing,” Wrigley declared.
