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Last updated on Thursday, May 3, 2012
(INDIANAPOLIS) - A Washington woman and a Loogootee man were sentenced Monday in federal court.
According to U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett, U.S. District Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson sentenced April Bilskie, 29, of Washington, to five years in prison and three years supervised release; Robbie Burris, 53, of Loogootee, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and five years supervised release. During their supervised release, both will be subject to drug testing and random search of their persons, vehicles and residences.
Andrea McCann, of the Washington Times-Herald reports the two were among 19 indicted last year for methamphetamine trafficking in the area, and both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth. Their arrests in December 2010 were linked to a two-year investigation that uncovered a meth distribution ring with ties to Mexico.
More than 50 people at various levels of the organization were arrested at that time in a countywide sweep by several law enforcement agencies.
"Both Burris and Bilskie served as distributors for a methamphetamine and marijuana trafficking operation led by Jose Vasquez-Silva and Mario Rodas," according to a press release from Hogsett's office. "The organization operated from approximately August 2009 through December 9, 2010, and distributed approximately 15 pounds of methamphetamine per month in the Washington and Vincennes, Indiana, area."
According to Hogsett, the drug was brought from Mexico to Los Angeles to Chicago to Washington.
The Daviess County Sheriff's Department; Washington Police Department; Vincennes Police Department; Vigo County Sheriff's Department; Gibson County Sheriff's Department; Drug Enforcement Administration's Evansville office; United States Marshals Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Internal Revenue Service; Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the Indiana State Police collaborated on the investigation.
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