Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Missoula, on March 7, 2008, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, CRAIG ALAN ULLMAN, a 26-year-old resident of Great Falls, appeared for sentencing. ULLMAN was sentenced to a term of:

• Prison: 120 months
• Supervised Release: 5 years

ULLMAN was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.

In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

In approximately May of 2006, Steven James Olsen began receiving shipments of cocaine from an individual hereafter referred to as "John Doe." "John Doe" would ship the cocaine to Bozeman from Columbus, Georgia, via Federal Express, in quantities of up to 24 ounces (680 grams). Olsen would pay for the cocaine by shipping cash to "John Doe," also via Federal Express. Both Olsen and "John Doe" often used aliases on the Federal Express shipment forms, including the names "Nick Harris" and "Richard Jones."

Based on Olsen's statements to law enforcement, he received between six and 13 kilograms of cocaine from "John Doe" during the life of the conspiracy, which ended due to law enforcement intervention in April of 2007. Olsen further stated that he sold the majority of the cocaine he received from "John Doe" to another individual, hereafter referred to as "John Smith". "John Smith" was interviewed by law enforcement officers and admitted buying significant quantities of cocaine from Olsen. "John Smith" stated that he knew the source of the cocaine was "John Doe" and estimated that he sold 60% to 70% of the cocaine he received from Olsen to ULLMAN, usually in ounce to quarter-pound quantities.

On November 10, 2006, officers from the Missouri River Drug Task Force, using a confidential informant, purchased two eight-balls of cocaine from yet another individual, hereafter referred to as "John White". The officers later determined that "John White's" source of supply for cocaine was ULLMAN. Based on that information, the officers arranged for the purchase of cocaine directly from ULLMAN, by "John White," on January 16, 2007. The task force officers monitored and observed the controlled buy of one-quarter ounce of cocaine from ULLMAN. During the transaction, ULLMAN stated that he had received the cocaine from his usual source, which, as noted above, was "John Smith". "John Smith", also as noted above, received his cocaine from Olsen, via "John Doe."

Olsen pled guilty to federal charges and has been sentenced.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that ULLMAN will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, ULLMAN does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Racicot prosecuted the case for the United States.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Missouri River Drug Task Force.