RAPID CITY, S.D. – United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that a jury convicted Todd Deutsch, age 54, of Sturgis, South Dakota, of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance following a four-day jury trial in federal district court in Rapid City, South Dakota. The verdict was returned on January 13, 2023.
The charges carry a mandatory minimum of at least 10 years up to a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and/or a $10,000,000 fine, at least five years up to life supervised release, and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Deutsch was indicted by a federal grand jury in January of 2020. The evidence at trial showed that for at least two and a half years, Deutsch conspired with multiple other persons in western South Dakota, to obtain large volumes of methamphetamine from places like California, Nevada, and Colorado, and then worked with his co-conspirators to distribute the methamphetamine within the District of South Dakota, primarily in the Black Hills area.
This case was investigated by the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team (UNET) and the Drug Enforcement Agency. UNET is comprised of law enforcement from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, Rapid City Police Department, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the South Dakota National Guard. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gina S. Nelson and Kathryn N. Rich prosecuted the case.
A presentence investigation was ordered and a sentencing date has not been set. The defendant was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service
