BILLINGS – A federal judge sentenced Billings resident
Nichole Renee Waldhalm today to five years in prison and five years supervised
release for her conviction in a conspiracy that brought meth from California to
the Billings area for distribution, U.S. Attorney Kurt G. Alme said.
U.S. District Judge Susan Watters presided at the
sentencing.
Waldhalm, 40, pleaded guilty on July 19 to conspiracy to
possess with intent to distribute meth.
In October 2017, drug task force officers received
information that Waldhalm was distributing meth she had received from
California. Investigators worked with a confidential informant, who made a
series of meth buys ranging from a quarter ounce to a half ounce of meth from
Waldhalm. In December, Waldhalm was arrested by the Montana Highway Patrol and
was found to be in possession of an ounce of meth, an ounce of cocaine and a
stolen firearm.
Waldhalm admitted to law enforcement she had been selling
meth since October 2016 and that in September 2017, she and a co-defendant
brought between two to four ounces of meth from California to Montana.
The conspiracy involved more than 50 grams of actual meth.
The amount is the equivalent of about 400 doses.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Rubich prosecuted the case,
which was investigated by the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI and Billings Police
Department.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a
program bringing together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement
agencies and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make
neighborhoods safer for everyone. The
Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of its renewed focus on
targeting violent criminals.
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