GREAT FALLS-Great Falls resident Macedonia Frances Mondragon, who hid methamphetamine inside her body, was sentenced on Wednesday to 66 months in prison and four years of supervised release for conviction of possessing meth, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
Mondragon, 33, pleaded guilty in November to possession with intent to distribute meth.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
Prosecutors said Mondragon initially was arrested on warrants after Great Falls police officers responded to a shoplifting report involving four individuals on March 16, 2018 at Walmart. Officers searched Mondragon’s purse and found stolen items, a cell phone, drug paraphernalia and a notebook that appeared to be a drug ledger. Officers also seized a money wire receipt showing that a member of the group had just transferred $800 to a person in California.
While being booked into jail on city warrants and the theft from Walmart, a detention officer found a package containing 46.4 grams of meth concealed in Mondragon’s body.
Further investigation by Homeland Security agents found that Mondragon had been involved in distributing meth in the Great Falls area for at least the previous two months.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Betley prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Great Falls Police Department.
The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
