Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
A man from Kyle, South Dakota has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for his involvement in a drug distribution conspiracy operating in Pine Ridge and Rapid City. U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier handed down the sentence to Nathan Tobacco-Clifford, 49, on September 19, 2025.
According to United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell, Tobacco-Clifford was convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. He received a sentence of five years and ten months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and must pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Tobacco-Clifford was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024 and pleaded guilty on April 23, 2025.
Authorities say that the conviction is related to methamphetamine distribution activities that took place on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City. Investigators determined that Tobacco-Clifford and several codefendants traveled from the Pine Ridge Reservation to Greeley, Colorado to obtain methamphetamine from Misty Hornbeck, another codefendant. During one trip back to South Dakota, the group was arrested in Scottsbluff, Nebraska while attempting to transport methamphetamine back to the reservation. Officials report that each co-conspirator sold methamphetamine for personal use purposes and that between 500 grams and 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine were distributed as part of this operation.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Badlands Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force. The task force includes agents from the FBI, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, and Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Knox prosecuted the case.
Tobacco-Clifford was immediately remanded into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.
