Navajo Woman Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Selling Methamphetamine
| U.S. Attorney's Office May 18, 2011 |
PHOENIX—U.S. District Court Judge Joseph R. Goodwin sentenced Terri Raye Van Winkle, 23, of Tuba City, Arizona, to 60 months in federal prison for conspiring to sell methamphetamine on the Navajo Nation. On August 30, 2010, Van Winkle, a member of the Navajo Nation Indian Tribe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute five grams or more of actual methamphetamine.
Between July and August, 2009, during an undercover operation which targeted individuals dealing methamphetamine in Tuba City and Flagstaff, Van Winkle and her co-conspirators sold methamphetamine to undercover officers on three separate occasions. Following this undercover operation, which lasted over a year, police arrested 22 people on federal charges. So far, 17 defendants have been sentenced, two defendants are awaiting sentencing, and trials are pending in the remaining three cases.
The investigation in these cases was conducted by the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety Drug & Gang Unit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Flagstaff Police Department. The prosecution is being handled by Christina J. Reid-Moore, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
CASE NUMBER: CR-10-8060-PCT-JATRELEASE NUMBER: 2011-096(Van Winkle)