Ijaz Khan Sindhu Pleads Guilty in U.S. Federal Court
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 15, 2013 |
The United States Attorney’s Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on February 15, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen, Ijaz Khan Sindhu, a 33-year-old resident of Othello Washington, pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Sentencing has been set for May 24, 2013. He is currently detained.
In an offer of proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara L. Elliott, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On August 23, 2012, a confidential informant (CI) was scheduled to purchase cocaine from Shahid Khan and Sindhu in Missoula. Prior to arriving in Montana, Khan and Sindhu were stopped by Idaho police officers, and it was later discovered that they had 10 ounces of cocaine in their car.
The CI would have testified that he purchased cocaine from Sindhu on numerous occasions between January and August 2012 and usually purchased approximately nine ounces of cocaine at a time. He would have further testified that Khan was with Sindhu on at least four or five of those occasions and at least once Khan took the money from the CI for the cocaine.
Khan pled guilty to federal charges.
Sindhu faces possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of five years and could be sentenced to 40 years, a $5,000,000 fine, and four years’ supervised release.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.