Witnesses, including a 15-year-old boy, testified at the sentencing hearing for Geraldine Blue Bird, a woman convicted of running a drug trafficking ring on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
The boy said he started using cocaine at age 13. He said he helped Blue Bird package cocaine and marijuana for sale on the reservation. The boy also told the court he witnessed a 3-year-old pick up a handgun.
Blue Bird was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and on firearms and marijuana distribution charges. Other defendants were convicted of distributing drugs. More than a dozen people were indicted in connection with the trafficking ring.
Today, the judge sentenced Blue Bird to nearly 30 years in prison, The Rapid City Journal reports.
Get the Story:
Reservation drug dealer gets nearly 30 years
(The Rapid City Journal 2/22)
Related Stories:
Woman sentenced for Pine Ridge drug
trafficking (01/12)
More indictments in Pine
Ridge drug trafficking ring (12/06)
Mistrial sought in Pine Ridge trafficking case
(10/19)
Jury finds five guilty in Pine
Ridge trafficking case (10/5)
Pine Ridge
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Five on trial for trafficking cocaine to Pine
Ridge (09/20)
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