ISP-DEA Investigation results in three North Idaho men facing federal charges

IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE – generated by our News Release ListServer

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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE

District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642

For Immediate Release: 07/17/2020 1:00 P.M.

Please direct questions to the contact listed below.

The following was released by the Department of Justice, United States Attorney Bart M. Davis, District of Idaho

July 16, 2020

Contact: Cassie Fulghum CASSANDRA.FULGHUM@USDOJ.GOV

Three Men from Hope Idaho Arrested for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine

COEUR D'ALENE – Larry Junior Hillbroom, 36, Morgan Kenney, 34, and Sean Robert

Wathen, 48, all of Hope, Idaho, were arrested on July 15, 2020, on federal charges of conspiracy

to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. The charges

stem from a June 16, 2020 indictment filed in U.S. District Court by a federal grand jury in

Coeur d'Alene.

The indictment alleges that beginning in the summer of 2015 and continuing to February

2016, Hillbroom, Kenney, and Wathen conspired to distribute methamphetamine. The federal

methamphetamine conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, a

maximum fine of $1 million, and at least three years of supervised release.

Hillbroom, Kenney, and Wathen are scheduled for their initial appearance tomorrow, July

17, 2020, at the federal courthouse in Coeur d'Alene. During the initial appearance, a trial date

will be set and the court will address the custody status of each defendant.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bonner County

Sheriff's Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Coeur d'Alene Police Department, Idaho State Police,

U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Marshals Service.

This indictment is the result of a joint investigation by the Organized Crime and Drug

Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multijurisdictional

task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies.

The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most

serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those

primarily responsible for the nation's illegal drug supply. Program participants include Federal

Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security

Investigations; Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and U.S. Marshals Service.

An indictment is a means of charging a person with criminal activity. It is not evidence.

The person is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Posted in District 3 - Western Idaho