Alison J. Ramsdell, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota, has announced multiple local recipients of a Regional Award from the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The award presentation took place in Sioux Falls on March 12, 2025, and recognized the extraordinary, multi-agency work that resulted in the successful disruption of a large-scale drug trafficking organization responsible for bringing approximately 140 pounds of methamphetamine from Mexico and Arizona into South Dakota and Louisiana.
The Midwest HIDTA Outstanding Prosecution Award was given to agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, along with detectives from the Sioux Falls Area Drug Task Force and officers with the South Dakota Highway Patrol and Moody County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Hodges was also recognized for his work in securing federal convictions of 19 individuals from South Dakota, Arizona, and Louisiana for their participation in the large-scale conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and to commit money laundering.
The investigation, which spanned nearly two years, revealed that Christopher Daniels was operating as the South Dakota cell leader of a multi-state drug trafficking organization. Agents further discovered that Daniels obtained methamphetamine from Sean Gross in Arizona, who in turn sourced the methamphetamine from Rusty Driscoll. Driscoll had a direct connection to a source in Mexico. Gross and Driscoll also sent multiple pounds of methamphetamine to Jessica Louviere in Louisiana. Agents determined that Daniels was personally responsible for distributing at least 120 pounds of methamphetamine in South Dakota. Driscoll was responsible for directing the quantities, prices, payments, and shipments of multiple multi-pound deliveries of methamphetamine to South Dakota and elsewhere. As a result of successful federal prosecutions, the leaders of this drug conspiracy received significant federal sentences—Driscoll was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison; Daniels was sentenced to 30 years; Gross was sentenced to more than 26 years; and Louviere was sentenced to 14 years.
“We are extremely fortunate to have local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies who readily and regularly collaborate to intercept drugs being trafficked into our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Ramsdell. “This case is just one example of the consequential work being done by law enforcement agencies, alongside federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, to dismantle drug trafficking organizations and hold accountable those who dare to do their deadly business in South Dakota.”
The HIDTA program, created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, provides assistance to Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States. This grant program is administered by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). There are currently 33 HIDTAs, and HIDTA-designated counties are located in 50 states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.
The DEA plays a very active role and has more than 1,500 authorized special agent positions dedicated to the program. At the local level, the HIDTAs are directed and guided by Executive Boards composed of an equal number of regional Federal and non-Federal (state, local, and tribal) law enforcement leaders.
South Dakota counties involved in the Midwest HIDTA include Beadle, Brookings, Brown, Clay, Codington, Custer, Lawrence, Lincoln, Meade, Minnehaha, Pennington, Union, and Yankton.
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