A Colorado woman and a Wyoming man were recently sentenced for trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl to the Wind River Indian Reservation, underscoring the ongoing battle against drug abuse in Native American communities, CBS News reports.
The case highlights the federal government’s role in prosecuting crimes on reservations, which often suffer disproportionate impacts from drug epidemics.
In November 2023, Dusty Harris, 42, of Casper, Wyoming, and Thelma Faber, 45, of Greeley, Colorado, were stopped near Shoshoni, Wyoming. Law enforcement officials, including investigators from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, had tracked Harris for selling controlled substances to members of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes on the reservation.
Deputies discovered 94 grams of methamphetamine, 34 grams of fentanyl, a digital scale, and other drug paraphernalia in their vehicle. Messages on the pair’s phones revealed evidence of drug trafficking over the previous month, leading to their arrests and subsequent charges.
In May, Faber pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute and was sentenced in October to 57 months in federal prison. US District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl recommended that Faber attend a residential drug abuse program during her incarceration and imposed a four-year supervised probation period after her release. Conditions include regular drug testing, mental health treatment, and vocational training. Faber is currently serving her sentence at FCI Phoenix.
Harris, who faced additional charges, received a harsher sentence of 142 months in federal prison and is housed at FCI Leavenworth in Kansas. He and his attorney are appealing the sentence.
The Wind River Reservation, home to over 12,500 members of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes, has long struggled with methamphetamine addiction. In 2020, the Northern Arapaho tribe declared a state of emergency due to the escalating meth crisis. A 2006 report from the National Congress of American Indians emphasized that Native Americans experience the highest meth usage rates among all ethnic groups in the US, calling the drug’s impact “devastating” to tribal communities.
Federal agencies oversee the prosecution of crimes involving Native American reservations, especially those that cross state lines.
