Lower Brule Man Returns to Federal Prison for Over 33 Years for Leading a Meth and Money Laundering Conspiracy
United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that a Lower Brule, South Dakota, man convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering was sentenced on July 25, 2022, by U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier.
Canbie Ryan Thompson, age 45, was sentenced to 400 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Thompson was indicted for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering by a federal grand jury in July of 2021. He pleaded guilty on May 5, 2022.
From December 2020 until on or about March 2021, Thompson reached an agreement to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine in the District of South Dakota and elsewhere. On March 23, 2021, Thompson was transporting 4,989 grams of methamphetamine and was lawfully stopped and searched by police. During the search the police located and seized the 4,989 grams of methamphetamine. Thompson was also responsible for transporting and delivering other quantities of methamphetamine for further distribution.
Additionally, beginning in January of 2018, Thompson intentionally conspired to knowingly conduct and attempt to conduct financial transactions affecting interstate and foreign commerce, to wit: depositing U.S Currency at financial institutions and conducting wire/money transfers, which involved the proceeds of a specified unlawful activity, that is, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, with the intent to promote the carrying on of the unlawful activity, and that while conducting and attempting to conduct such financial transactions knew that the property involved in the financial transactions represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity. In that manner, Thompson, along with his co-conspirators, wired funds derived from the sale of methamphetamine by utilizing various financial institutions on behalf of the conspiracy. Thompson had bulk currency deposited into his Wells Fargo account, wired/sent thousands of dollars to co-conspirators, and sent money across state lines from South Dakota to California. Thompson attempted to conceal the fact that the money was acquired from the sale of methamphetamine.
Thompson had an obstruction of justice sentencing enhancement because after being indicted, he obtained discovery information from the case and disseminated it to an unauthorized individual. The dissemination of that discovery impeded the investigation and prosecution of the case by making the name of a cooperating witness public.
Thompson was previously convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance in South Dakota in 2010, for which he was sentenced to 63 months.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, IRS Criminal Investigation, South Dakota Highway Patrol, Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, and the Sioux Falls Area Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Hodges prosecuted the case.
Thompson was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
