Lapwai Methamphetamine Dealer Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison

 COEUR D'ALENE – Sade Tyel Bronson, 34, of Lapwai, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to ten years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Bronson to serve five years of supervised release following her prison sentence. Bronson pleaded guilty to the charge on October 14, 2020.

According to statements made in court, Bronson was the target of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) drug investigation and was identified as a methamphetamine supplier on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. On February 4, 2020, an Idaho State Police Trooper stopped the vehicle Bronson was driving near the Clearwater River Casino in Lewiston. Bronson was in possession of 88 grams of pure methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia indicating that she was a methamphetamine dealer. Because the methamphetamine weighed over 50 grams, a federal grand jury charged Bronson with a crime mandating a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence.

This case was investigated by the Hells Canyon Narcotics Working Group which includes the FBI, Idaho State Police, Nez Perce Tribal Police Department, Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office, and the Lewiston Police Department. The Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office also assisted this prosecution.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.