A federal grand jury has indicted a Rapid City, South Dakota, man and woman for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance.
Misty Standing Bear, age 49, and Mason Big Crow, age 52, were indicted in May 2026. Both appeared last week before United States Magistrate Judge Mark W. Haigh and pleaded not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years custody up to life in federal prison, a $10,000,000 fine, or both, at least five years up to life of supervised release, and a $100 assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
Beginning at least in 2021, Standing Bear and Big Crow engaged in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in and around the Pine Ridge Reservation and the Rapid City area. In a conspiracy spanning several years, the defendants traveled to other states to purchase thousands of counterfeit M/30 fentanyl pills and trafficked the fentanyl to South Dakota for further distribution. Investigators discovered Standing Bear and Big Crow actively engaged in fentanyl trafficking as recently as May 2026 when Standing Bear traveled to Colorado, at Big Crow’s direction, with the intent to purchase 1,000 counterfeit M/30 fentanyl pills. Big Crow and Standing Bear paid for at least a portion of the fentanyl they trafficked in South Dakota with tribal funds through fraudulent tribal assistant checks when Big Crow was the treasurer for the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
“We look forward to proving these crimes in federal court and holding these two fentanyl traffickers accountable for their actions,” said U.S. Attorney Parsons.
“Mason Big Crow, already alleged to have committed crimes against his community for personal gain, is now alleged to have conspired to distribute dangerous narcotics to that same community along with his wife Misty Standing Bear,” said FBI Minneapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson. “Fentanyl is a scourge on our communities. The FBI and our federal, state, and tribal partners will work tirelessly to track down and bring to justice anyone who risks the lives and safety of others in order to profit from its distribution.”
The charge is merely an accusation, and Misty Standing Bear and Mason Big Crow are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Badlands Safe Trails Task Force. The Task Force is comprised of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the
South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward C. Tarbay is prosecuting the case.
Standing Bear was released on bond pending trial. Big Crow was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
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