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Montana drug dealer sentenced to 16 years in federal prison

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Posted at 1:08 PM, Apr 03, 2024
and last updated 2024-04-03 15:08:09-04

BILLINGS — A Billings man who admitted to drug trafficking and firearms crimes after law enforcement more than a pound of methamphetamine, fentanyl pills, and a loaded gun in his motel room was sentenced Wednesday today to 16 years and three months in federal prison

U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said in a press release that 49-year-old Robert Earl Biggs pleaded guilty in November 2023 to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Federal prosecutors alleged that in 2022 the Billings Police Department Street Crimes Unit learned through an investigation that Biggs was staying in a local motel and using others to distribute drugs for him. One of his distributors told officers that she had seen four to five pounds of meth and approximately 4,000 fentanyl pills in Biggs’ room a few days prior.

The investigation ultimately led to officers detaining Biggs and searching his motel room. Law enforcement located fentanyl pills, more than a pound of meth, a black bag containing $5,860, and a loaded firearm in the room.

A co-defendant, Brandi Davitt, was sentenced in January to four years in prison for her conviction in the case, while co-defendant Leota Beartusk-Martinez pleaded guilty to a trafficking crime and is awaiting sentencing.