FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 29, 2008
KELLEY FRANKLIN ROBERTS 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 Friday, February 29, 2008, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, KELLEY FRANKLIN ROBERTS, a 24-year-old resident of Bozeman, appeared for sentencing. ROBERTS was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 36 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Supervised Release: 5 years
ROBERTS was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
In approximately October of 2005, ROBERTS met a Bozeman-area cocaine supplier and began exchanging modest amounts of marijuana and cocaine. Shortly thereafter, ROBERTS began fronting one-pound quantities of marijuana to this supplier and another individual for $4,000.
During the spring of 2006, ROBERTS fronted between 1/2 pound and five pounds of marijuana to these individuals each week and also purchased approximately two grams of cocaine from the cocaine supplier for $80 per gram.
ROBERTS' marijuana suppliers resided in California and ROBERTS routinely obtained five to fifteen pound quantities of marijuana from those California sources throughout 2006. According to ROBERTS' statements to law enforcement, he distributed approximately five pounds of marijuana in November of 2006, seven pounds in December of 2006, and ten to 12 pounds every month from January to April of 2007.
One of ROBERTS' California marijuana suppliers also was interested in distributing large quantities of cocaine to the cocaine supplier and yet another individual in Bozeman. ROBERTS offered five kilograms of cocaine to these two individuals for $650 per ounce, but the cocaine supplier was unwilling to pay more than $17,000 per kilogram ($650 per ounce would be approximately $22,930 per kilogram).
In the spring of 2007, ROBERTS and the other individual again discussed the possibility of a deal between ROBERTS' California source and the individual's Georgia source. ROBERTS and the individual discussed the purchase of multiple kilograms of cocaine, not less than five, by the individual's source of supply in Georgia from ROBERTS' source of supply in California. The parties discussed the price of the cocaine and the details of the sale, including who would transport the cocaine from California and whether the California seller and Georgia buyer would meet in Montana to exchange drugs and money. In the end, the deal did not occur because the Georgia buyers could not assemble enough cash to make the purchase and the parties could not agree on the other details of the transaction. In addition, the investigation into the conspiracy was intensifying, which eventually prevented the co-conspirators from further discussing or finalizing the deal.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that ROBERTS will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, ROBERTS 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 Timothy J. Racicot prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Missouri River Drug Task Force.
