A Bakken oil field worker who helped drug dealers transport methamphetamine to support his own habit was sentenced to three years in federal prison, the Billings (Montana) Gazette reported.
Sean Michael Vaira, 30, of Williston, N.D., was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Susan Watters.
Vaira’s 37-month sentence was at the low end of a range that went to almost four years, the Gazette said.
“Vaira was among about a dozen people charged in an operation that brought methamphetamine into Montana and distributed it in the Sidney and Fairview areas in Eastern Montana and elsewhere in the state.”
A main dealer in the case, Robert Farrell Armstrong, of Moses Lake, Wash., pleaded guilty in January to a possession count. He’s waiting to be sentenced.
Nine other defendants have also pleaded guilty.
Vaira helped transport more than 2 pounds of “pure meth . . . to communities that have suffered from drug use,” Judge Watters said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McCarthy said Vaira was a minor player and had no criminal record, the Billings Gazette said.
