GREAT FALLS – A Poplar woman suspected of being a long-time distributor of oxycodone pills on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation admitted drug trafficking and money laundering crimes today, Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.
Kaycee Lynn Menz, 31, pled guilty to charges of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and money laundering. She is currently free pending sentencing, which is set for December 8, 2021.
In court documents filed in the case, the government alleged that beginning in June 2014 and continuing through at least May 2020, Menz, and her co-defendant and boyfriend, Jason Tyrell Lee, began selling illegal oxycodone pills from a house they rented in Poplar, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
Lee has also been arrested and charged in connection with Menz’s case.
Police learned that Lee resided primarily in Minnesota, Menz primarily lived at the Poplar residence and that Lee supplied Menz with the pills she sold, records state.
Investigators interviewed many individuals who witnessed Menz and Lee distributing illegal pills. Some individuals occasionally helped with the drug enterprise by driving Menz around to conduct sale and by wiring or transferring drug proceeds to individuals in Minnesota, court documents state.
Menz also sent money using transfer services to individuals in Minnesota and asked others to send money on her behalf.
Menz faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine and three years of supervised release.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan R. Plaut is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Peck Tribes Department of Law and Justice and Montana Highway Patrol.
