Martin Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing a Controlled Substance
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 10, 2012 |
United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that David Alan Gotheridge, age 55, of Martin, South Dakota, appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on October 2, 2012, and pled guilty to a superseding information that charged him with distribution of a controlled substance. The maximum penalty upon conviction is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
On April 17, 2012, Gotheridge distributed hydrocodone with acetaminophen at Martin. The charge is a result of Operation Prairie Pharm, a controlled substances investigation conducted by the Northern Plains Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, whose member agencies include the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the South Dakota Highway Patrol, the Pierre Police Department, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe-Department of Public Safety (OST-DPS). The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Shattuck.
The defendant was released on bond pending sentencing.