Wakpala Woman Indicted for Conspiracy and Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine

United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Wakpala, South Dakota, woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance.

Brooke Malenia Ducheneaux, age 30, was indicted on January 19, 2017. She appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Moreno on February 22, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.

The maximum penalty upon conviction is 20 years in custody and/or a $1,000,000 fine, a lifetime of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.

The Indictment alleges that between March 1, 2014, and January of 2017, Ducheneaux knowingly and intentionally conspired to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance, in South Dakota. The indictment further alleges that on March 14, 2016, in Dewey County, South Dakota, Ducheneaux did knowingly and intentionally possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it.

The charges are merely accusations and Ducheneaux is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services Narcotics Division, and the Northern Plains Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney SaraBeth Donovan is prosecuting the case.

Ducheneaux was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. A trial date has not been set.