After reading a news report about substance abuse in Indian Country, a drug dealer decided to target the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.
Jesus Martin Sagaste-Cruz, a citizen of Mexico, brought his drug gang to the reservation about seven years ago. They supplied the community with free meth samples and started relationships with Indian women.
Within a couple of years, the drug took over the reservation. From 2003 to 2006, cases of child neglect increased 131 percent, drug possession rose 163 percent and spousal abuse went up by 218 percent, according to the Associated Press.
Federal authorities, with cooperation from tribal and local law enforcement, went after the ring. They secured nearly two dozen convictions in an operation that also targeted other reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska.
Then came another meth case at Wind River involving three generations of the Goodman family who were dealing the drug. Nineteen people, including a tribal judge, were arrested.
Get the Story:Meth puts stranglehold on vulnerable Indian reservation (AP 4/29)
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