Drug Ring Suspects Appear In Federal Court

Two Michigan men and a Montanan made their initial appearance in federal court on Tuesday, Sept. 29, on suspicion of trafficking methamphetamine onto the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said.

Vincent Earl Thompson, 26, from Clayton, Mich., and Derrick Byrd, 38, from Detroit, Mich., along with Michael Dean Grey Bear, 24, from Poplar, were arrested in September on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

The government alleges in court documents that Grey Bear was part of a drug trafficking operation that included Thompson and Byrd, who together moved significant amounts of meth from Michigan to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The three men were arrested while traveling together onto the Fort Peck Indian Reservation with methamphetamine in the vehicle.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion.

The HSTF is a whole-ofgovernment partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.

HSTF Montana comprises agents and officers from federal, state and local agencies with the prosecution being led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Godfrey for the District of Montana.