GREAT FALLS — A Minnesota man who admitted to making hundreds of thousands of dollars selling oxycodone pills while renting a house on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation was sentenced today to six years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.
Jason Tyrell Lee, 46, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, pleaded guilty in September 2021 to possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and money laundering.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
The government alleged in court documents that for approximately six years, from 2014 through spring 2020, Lee and co-defendant, Kaycee Lynn Menz, were selling oxycodone pills from a house they rented in Poplar, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Lee, who resided primarily in Minnesota, supplied Menz with pills to sell on and around the reservation. Financial records showed that their operation generated large sums of cash in Montana and that they then moved the proceeds to accounts held in Lee’s name and in the name of his Minnesota business, Above Average Marketing. During the period of the drug operation, more than $700,000 was deposited into Above Average Marketing banks accounts. Meanwhile, despite the vast quantities of deposits, Lee was reporting little legitimate business income. One customer estimated spending $30,000 on pills from Menz, pills that had been supplied by Lee. In a May 2020 traffic stop of Lee, agents found approximately 410 pills containing oxycodone.
Menz previously was sentenced to 40 months in prison for her conviction in the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan R. Plaut prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office and Montana Highway Patrol.
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