Lewiston Drug Trafficker Sentenced to Over 26 Years

 COEUR D’ALENE – Christopher William Bounds, 38, of Lind, Washington, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 322 months in federal prison, Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr. announced today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Bounds to serve ten years of supervised release following his prison sentence, pay a $2,400 fine, and ordered the forfeiture of sixteen firearms. In August 2020, a federal jury sitting in Coeur d’Alene convicted Bounds on six federal charges, including conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, unlawful possession of a firearm by a drug addict, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Evidence presented during the four-day trial established that Quad Cities Drug Task Force detectives worked with the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office to stop Bounds’ vehicle when Bounds was leaving Lewiston, Idaho. Officers searched Bounds’ vehicle and seized two pounds of pure methamphetamine, one pound of heroin, cash, and sixteen loaded firearms. Testimony at trial showed that the drugs were valued at over $32,000. Bounds’ cell phone was also seized and a search revealed that Bounds was a wholesale distributor of methamphetamine and heroin in Idaho and Eastern Washington. The jury also heard evidence that Bounds used an assault rifle for protection when meeting with cartel-level drug traffickers a couple days before the traffic stop. Bounds has multiple felony convictions which prohibit him from possessing firearms.

Multiple law enforcement agencies contributed to the prosecution of this case including the Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office, Lewiston Police Department, Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office, Clarkston Police Department, and Whitman County Sheriff’s Office, who are all part of the Quad Cities Drug Task Force, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who are not part of the task force but participate with it on a regular basis. The Quad Cities Drug Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional group of law enforcement officers working together to target drug trafficking in Lewiston and Moscow, Idaho, and Clarkston and Pullman, Washington.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.