Billings, Montana - An Arizona woman accused of bringing multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine to Montana for distribution admitted to a trafficking crime Tuesday, Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.
Lisa Elizabeth Caudron, 42, of Gilbert, Arizona, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute meth. Caudron faces a mandatory minimum 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan presided. Caudron was released pending further proceedings. A sentencing date will be set before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen.
The government alleged in court documents filed in the case that the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force learned in February 2020 that a person had been buying multi-pound quantities of meth from Caudron and from a co-defendant, Gaspar Salas, since February 2019 and that the two always came to Montana together. On April 23, 2020, law enforcement located Salas and Caudron at a hotel in Livingston and executed a search warrant for their room and their vehicle. The hotel room search resulted in the seizure of 4.69 pounds of meth, which is the equivalent of about 16,996 doses, in a backpack. Salas was sentenced in March to 15 years in prison for conviction in the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin M. Rubich prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the FBI’s Big Sky Western Transnational Organized Crime Task Force.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative to reduce violent crime. Through PSN, federal, tribal, state and local law enforcement partners in Montana focus on violent crime driven by methamphetamine trafficking, armed robbers, firearms offenses and violent offenders with outstanding warrants.