Informational: Federal Court Arraignment
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 01, 2009 |
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on April 1, 2009, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn S. Ostby, the following individual was arraigned:
HEIDI ARAGON, a 21-year-old resident of Taos, New Mexico, appeared on a charge of distribution of methamphetamine. She is currently detained. If convicted of this charge, ARAGON faces possible penalties of five to forty years in prison, a $2,000,000 fine and four years supervised release. Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Seykora is the prosecutor for the United States. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Big Sky Safe Streets Task Force, which includes the Billings Police Department and the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office.
The defendant pled not guilty to the charge.
The charge, an indictment, information or complaint, is merely an accusation and any person named as a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. A pre-trial conference and a trial date will be set and the United States will be required to prove the allegations set forth in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.