United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell has announced that Jacob Denker, a resident of Rapid City, South Dakota, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his involvement in drug trafficking. U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler handed down the sentence on November 25, 2024.

Denker, aged 41, will also serve five years of supervised release and is required to pay a $1,000 fine along with a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2024 for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance (fentanyl) and pleaded guilty on August 28, 2024.

The charges against Denker stem from activities beginning around March 2023 when he and his girlfriend Jamie Lee started acquiring fentanyl from Colorado and distributing it in South Dakota. Their operation extended throughout Rapid City and the Pine Ridge Reservation until September 2023. The group brought over 400 grams of fentanyl into these areas. Co-defendant Eugene Giago is set for trial on January 7, 2025, while Jamie Lee awaits sentencing on January 27, 2025.

The case was investigated by the Badlands Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, which includes agents from the FBI, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, Martin Police Department, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward C. Tarbay prosecuted the case.

Following his sentencing, Denker was remanded into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.