BILLINGS — Two Busby residents convicted of methamphetamine and firearms crimes after the drug and guns were found in a vehicle in which they were traveling were sentenced to prison terms today, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
Jamesey Maria Jefferson, 33, was sentenced to seven years in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release.
Co-defendant Ivan Eaglefeathers, 21, was sentenced to six years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.
Both defendants pleaded guilty in May to possession with intent to distribute meth and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.
In court documents, the government alleged that on Sept. 12, 2021 on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, law enforcement officers stopped a car that had run two stop signs, was traveling at a high rate of speed and was believed to have been seen at an earlier shooting. Officers detained Jefferson, Eaglefeathers and two others who were in the car. A federal search warrant was served on the car, and officers found approximately 48 grams of meth, $2,000 in cash, drug paraphernalia, ammunition and three firearms. The guns were a .17-caliber rifle, an AR-style 5.56mm rifle and a 9mm handgun. Jefferson admitted to investigators that she possessed the meth, the .17-caliber rifle and the 9mm handgun. A video of Eaglefeathers and a co-defendant shows Eaglefeathers outside of the vehicle on the same day with a gun in his hand. Eaglefeathers admitted to having one of the rifles in the car and to having shot it in the air.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs conducted the investigation.
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