Rapid City Men Sentenced for Drug Conspiracy

 Acting United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that two Rapid City, South Dakota, men convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance were sentenced by Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Court.

Thomas Janis, age 36, was sentenced on May 27, 2021, to 12 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Frank Janis, age 38, was sentenced on June 7, 2021, to time served, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The Janis brothers were indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2020.  The charge related to Thomas Janis using the internet to purchase boxes of Tramadol pills from various locations outside the United States.  Janis then distributed these shipments of multiple blister packs of Tramadol pills to individuals in the District of South Dakota between 2017 and 2020.  One of these individuals was his brother, Frank Janis, who paid Thomas for each box of blister packs.  Thomas then sold the Tramadol pills and kept the remaining profits for himself.  Thomas Janis distributed at least 40,000, but less than 80,000 pills, and Frank Janis distributed at least 16,000, but less than 40,000 pills, during the course of the conspiracy.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Department of the Interior - Bureau of Indian Affairs; and the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team (“UNET”), a local drug task force comprised of agencies including the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation.  U.S. Attorney Heather Sazama prosecuted the case.

Thomas Janis was ordered to self-surrender to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service on June 16, 2021.