Soda Springs man sentenced to 17 years in prison for running drug trafficking organization in Eastern Idaho

POCATELLO, Idaho – Ryan Fitzgerald Dalley, 44, of Soda Springs, was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court to 17 years in federal prison for continuing criminal enterprise and conspiracy to launder money, Brad Bench of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle Field Office and U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered that Dalley be placed on supervised release for ten years following his prison sentence. Dalley pleaded guilty on June 25, 2018.

According to court records, Dalley admitted that from September 2013 to October 2017, he acted as an organizer, supervisor or manager over at least five other individuals who conspired to distribute methamphetamine in Idaho and other states. He further admitted that he received substantial income from the sales of methamphetamine and laundered $100,000 in drug proceeds.

“When an individual deals in dangerous substances like methamphetamine, they place the entire community at risk,” said Brad Bench, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, Seattle, WA. “The narcotics themselves while deadly, are not the only issue. These types of crime can spur a multitude of others, such as money laundering, assault, manslaughter and murder. HSI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to prevent these crimes by removing these dangerous individuals from our streets.”

“Idaho has a methamphetamine problem that permeates every community,” said U.S. Attorney Davis. “My office is dedicated to working with local, state, and federal agencies to ensure that individuals like Mr. Dalley, who repeatedly attempt to enrich themselves through the suffering of others, receive justice and are removed from society.”

“Mr. Dalley’s drug trafficking organization flooded Eastern Idaho with hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine,” said Idaho State Police Detective Lee Edgley. “This organization operated in Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Arizona. The Idaho State Police will continue to work with local and federal law enforcement to bring to justice those individuals and organizations who seek to profit from selling dangerous controlled substances that tear at the very fabric of our community.”

At sentencing, Judge Winmill noted that he has presided over a significant share of the drug sentencings in federal court in Pocatello for the past 24 years and he believes that Dalley’s drug trafficking organization is “one of, if not the largest, drug trafficking operation in Eastern Idaho.”

Judge Winmill also ordered Dalley to pay a $1,500 fine and forfeit $88,623 in seized U.S. currency and at least $25,000 of unrecovered cash proceeds and/or facilitating property. The case was investigated by the Idaho State Police, Pocatello Police Department, Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, Bannock County Sheriff’s Office, The BADGES Drug Task Force, and the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply. Program participants include the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and the U.S. Marshals Service.

For more about HSI’s narcotic enforcement mission visit their Narcotics Smuggling page