Andrew Kenneth Heron Pleads Guilty in U.S. Federal Court

The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on September 30, 2010, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch, ANDREW KENNETH HERON, a 22-year-old resident of San Francisco, California, pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Sentencing has been set for January 6, 2011. He is currently released on special conditions.

In an offer of proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara J. Elliott, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

R.L. and J.D. would have testified that they met HERON in early 2005 and that they then began purchasing ecstasy and cocaine from HERON, who mailed the drugs from California, via the United States Postal Service or FedEx, to them in Montana. The first of these packages contained 50 to 100 tablets of ecstasy and about one ounce of cocaine. R.L. stated that they received similar packages four to nine times over the next three months.

Early in the summer of 2006, R.L. and J.D. were sent two ounces each of cocaine in a package from HERON—with a similar package sent approximately one month later. After another month, they received a package containing eight ounces of cocaine.

During the fall of 2006, R.L. and J.D. each received shipments of 1/4 pound of cocaine each on two or three occasions.

In February 2008, J.D. again began receiving ecstasy from HERON, and between February and April 2008, he received a total of 500 to 700 ecstasy tablets and two to three ounces of cocaine. J.D. also stated that a package mailed to R.L. and J.D. in September 2008 contained eight ounces of cocaine and was split evenly between the two of them.

HERON faces possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and could be sentenced to 40 years, a $2,000,000 fine and at least four years' supervised release.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Missouri River Drug Task Force.