Six Co-Conspirators of Loren Toelle Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to Prison

COEUR D'ALENE – Six co-conspirators of the Loren Toelle drug trafficking organization were sentenced Tuesday and Wednesday to prison on drug trafficking and money laundering charges, Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael Gonzalez announced. The sentences were part of a significant drug investigation and prosecution under the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program. The sentences were handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.

Co-conspirators William Jaquett Barker, 31, of Williston, North Dakota; Sean Lee Jackson, 28, of Las Vegas, Nevada; Steven Wayne Jackson, 31, of Las Vegas, Nevada; Kristin Rene Wilson, 28, of Riverside, California; and Augustine Jackson, 32, of Williston, North Dakota, were sentenced on their guilty pleas to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Sean Jackson and Kristin Wilson also pled guilty to conspiracy to launder money. Sherlann Simon, 34, of North Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced for her guilty plea to conspiracy to launder money.

Barker was sentenced to 24 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered a $2,000 fine. Judge Winmill also ordered Barker to forfeit $100,000 in cash proceeds. According to his plea agreement, Barker admitted that he and others agreed to distribute controlled substances in Idaho and elsewhere. Although the conspiracy lasted from at least 2009 until the arrests on February 4, 2016, Barker did not join the conspiracy until 2015. Barker maintained a residence in North Dakota where a member of the conspiracy came to sell heroin and oxycodone. Barker also admitted that he helped conceal, transport and sell controlled substances during his involvement.

Sean Jackson, Loren Toelle’s son, was sentenced to 96 months in prison, four years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $555,000 in drug profits and $51,656.10 for his part in the money laundering conspiracy. According to his plea agreement, Jackson was an integral member of the DTO from 2009 until his arrest in 2016. He admitted that he and others agreed to distribute controlled substances in Idaho and elsewhere. Jackson also admitted helping launder proceeds for the DTO by depositing drug proceeds into bank accounts, as well as Money Tree or MoneyGram accounts, in an attempt to hide the money or to make it appear it was from a legitimate source.

Augustine Jackson, Loren Toelle’s daughter, was sentenced to 80 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to forfeit $154,089.03 in cash proceeds. According to her plea agreement, Augustine Jackson was a member of the DTO from 2009 until her arrest in 2016. She admitted that she and others agreed to distribute controlled substances in Idaho and elsewhere.

Sherlann Simon, another daughter of Loren Toelle, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to forfeit $462,639.17 in cash proceeds. According to her plea agreement, Simon became a member of the DTO in 2010 and helped launder money for the DTO by depositing money she knew was from illegal drug sales into her personal and business accounts to conceal its true source.

Steven Jackson, another son of Loren Toelle, was sentenced to 41 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to forfeit $355,000 in cash proceeds. According to his plea agreement, Jackson became a member of DTO around 2010 until his arrest in 2016. He admitted that he and others agreed to distribute controlled substances in Idaho and elsewhere.

Kristin Wilson was sentenced to 108 months in prison, four years supervised release and ordered to forfeit $434,305.00 of drug profits and $154,089.03 for her part in the money laundering conspiracy. According to her plea agreement, Wilson was a member of the DTO from 2009 until her arrest in 2016. She admitted that she agreed to distribute controlled substances in Idaho and elsewhere, and helped launder proceeds for the DTO by depositing drug proceeds into bank accounts, as well as Money Tree or MoneyGram accounts, in an attempt to hide the money or to make it appear it was from a legitimate source.

Loren Toelle, the organizer and leader of the organization, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and launder money. On May 2, 2017, she was sentenced to 212 months in prison.

The case is a result of a joint investigation and cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.

Several federal, state and local agencies participated in the investigation and prosecution: the FBI North Idaho Violent Crime Task Force, consisting of the FBI, the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, and the Post Falls Police Department; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Homeland Security. Other agencies involved included the Williston, North Dakota, Police Department; the United States Attorney’s Offices in the Districts of Nevada and North Dakota; the Williams County Sheriff’s Office in South Dakota; the U.S. Border Patrol; the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation; the Northwest Narcotics Task Force; and the Washington State Patrol.