FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 17, 2008
JESSE DYKSTRA SENTENCED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Missoula, on January 17, 2007, before Chief U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, JESSE DYKSTRA, age 23, appeared for sentencing. DYKSTRA was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 37 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Supervised Release: 5 years
DYKSTRA was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
Between early 2005 and February of 2007, an individual, hereafter referred to as D.W., distributed in excess of five kilograms of cocaine in Bozeman.
Testimony would have been given that D.W. distributed cocaine to several other drug dealers in the Bozeman area and that those drug dealers, in turn, distributed cocaine to others in Bozeman. One of those dealers who received cocaine from D.W. was DYKSTRA. A co-conspirator would have testified that he personally delivered cocaine to DYKSTRA as part of the cocaine distribution conspiracy.
A confidential informant would have testified that he, another individual, and DYKSTRA obtained an average of at least four ounces of cocaine per week between August of 2005 and June of 2006 from an individual named "D", later identified as D.W. The confidential informant would have further testified that he, DYKSTRA, and the other individual distributed the cocaine in the Bozeman area.
On April 24, 2007, DYKSTRA was interviewed and admitted that he received an average of two to five ounces of cocaine per week from D.W. during the time period of August of 2005 to December of 2006.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that DYKSTRA will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, DYKSTRA does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph E. Thaggard prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of investigation in Bozeman and the Missouri River Drug Task Force.
