The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on Oct. 30, 2013, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn S. Ostby, the following individual was arraigned:
SAMUEL DAVIS EVERSON, III, a 47-year-old resident of Minot, North Dakota, appeared on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and (2) counts of distribution of methamphetamine. He is currently detained. If convicted of these charges, EVERSON faces possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and could be sentenced to life, a $10,000,000 fine, and 5 years supervised release on each of the first two charges; and possible penalties of 20 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine, and 3 years supervised release on each count of the last charge. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph E. Thaggard and Brendan P. McCarthy are the prosecutors for the United States.
The defendant pled not guilty to the charges.
This investigation was a part of Project Safe Bakken, which is a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Marshal's Service, the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division (EPA-CID), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation (MDCI), the Montana Highway Patrol, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), the Billings Police Department, the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office, and the Idaho State Police.
The charge, an indictment, information or complaint, is merely an accusation and all persons named as defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. A pre-trial conference and a trial date will be set and the United States will be required to prove the allegations set forth in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
