FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, May 24, 2008
KYLE JEFFREY BREDL 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 May 23, 2008, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, KYLE JEFFREY BREDL, a 21-year-old resident of Wisconsin, appeared for sentencing. BREDL was sentenced to a term of:
- Home Arrest: 6 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Probation: 5 years
BREDL was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to money laundering.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
In the summer of 2004, law enforcement agents in New Orleans were investigating the illegal sale of steroids through the Internet and noticed that a lot of the activity they were seeing originated with a company calling itself Pacific Rim Labs, operating out of Missoula. The New Orleans agents then notified the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Missoula High Intensity Drug Task Force (Missoula HIDTA) of this activity and an investigation ensued.
Missoula HIDTA agents began by placing an order through the Internet with Pacific Rim Labs for two different kinds of steroids. They later followed that order with a letter to Jim Jones at a Missoula address Jones had supplied, again asking for the steroids. The agents included a postal money order in the amount of $97 with the letter. The letter was sent from a DEA cover address in Colorado, and a few days later the agents received by mail, the steroids they had ordered. That package bore a return address listed as Southgate Mall, Missoula. The agents sent the purported steroids to the DEA laboratory in San Francisco for testing. The lab tested the products and confirmed that both were steroids.
Agents next received and applied for a search warrant to search Jones' residence. There they found steroids, mixing agents, laboratory-grade glass mixing equipment, glass vials and tops, funnels, needles and syringes, a capsule mixing machine, large bags filled with empty gel capsules, a capsule-filling press, scales, and nine Nalgene plastic laboratory-grade filtration devices. Agents also seized a variety of documents, including bank records, Western Union receipts, and U.S. Postal Service delivery receipts.
In addition, agents seized the contents of Jones' postal mail box. Included in the box were three envelopes from three different people in different parts of the United States addressed to BSS Supplements which contained cash or postal money orders, totaling $1,370. Also included in the mail box was a box from an individual in Xianju, China, addressed to Big Sky Sports Supplements. In the box were four mylar bags containing powder. Testing determined the powder was steroids.
By this time it was clear from seized documentation that Dana Fiscus was working with Jones. Agents obtained various money transfer and shipping records pertaining to Fiscus and Jones from Western Union and other money transfer businesses, as well as bank records for both. Agents discovered that early in the conspiracy, from June of 2004 through June of 2005, Jones had wire-transferred approximately $18,000 to individuals or organizations in China. The transfers had concerned Western Union sufficiently that they cut off Jones' wire transfer privileges. Fiscus also had tens of thousands of dollars in money wires in his name, to and from various places, including Jones Enterprises. Western Union provided a spread sheet which showed Fiscus had received approximately 171 wire transfers between November of 2004 and May of 2006, totaling approximately $53,000. The records also revealed that Fiscus had made some wire transfers to individuals in China. Fiscus admitted that the wires to him were payment from retail customers for steroids and the wires to China were to pay the supplier of the bulk product.
The investigating agents sent the records to DEA forensic accountants for analysis. The analysts concluded in reviewing bank accounts which Jones shared with his wife, or were established for his businesses, that every year since 2004, there were tens of thousands of dollars in deposits from unknown individuals or corporations. The deposits were in the form of Western Union wires, MoneyGrams, or cash deposits. The analysis also investigated E-Gold accounts and found that Jones had paid over $10,000 by that method to a person in China. The analysts noted that because the records were not complete they were not able to compile exact figures, and cautioned further that there may be unknown accounts, or transactions that occurred strictly in cash without ever flowing through a bank account. In total, they found between $150,000 and $200,000 in unexplained deposits to Jones' accounts.
When questioned, Fiscus admitted he had been employed by Jones to help Jones sell steroids through the Internet. He explained that they would receive steroids from China in bulk, and would then process and package it into smaller quantities in Missoula. The smaller quantities would be labeled and sent out to people who had ordered the steroids from Jones through the Internet. The customers paid either by sending cash or by sending Western Union wires or MoneyGrams. The bulk product was also paid for by sending wires to the Chinese suppliers.
Through further investigation, agents also discovered that BREDL was involved with Jones and Fiscus, though BREDL was living in Wisconsin. Agents in Wisconsin purchased steroids from BREDL many times in an undercover capacity. They later searched his house, finding equipment for processing bulk steroids, as well as packing equipment. When questioned, BREDL admitted he had been receiving bulk steroids from a business in Missoula calling itself Ebay Solutions. He also admitted receiving money orders from customers around the country and then sending the profits to Jones in Missoula, at the Ebay Solutions' address.
Fiscus and Jones pled guilty to federal charges and have been sentenced.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that BREDL will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, BREDL 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 Josh Van de Wetering prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Missoula Police Department and the Missoula High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force.
