Burley Area Meth Traffickers Receive Prison Sentences

Four people have received federal prison terms and a fifth person’s sentence is pending as the result of a two-year, multi-agency investigation of a methamphetamine trafficking ring operating in Sweetwater County, Wyoming.   In a joint release issued Friday, Sweetwater County Sheriff Rich Haskell and the Division of Criminal Investigation’s Southwest Enforcement Team said Federal District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl handed down the sentences on April 13 in Casper.   Officials said the Team developed information about methamphetamine suppliers in Idaho working with drug dealers in Sweetwater County, Wyoming in 2010 and began building a case against members of the ring.  A traffic stop by a Deputy Sheriff in Wyoming on November 7, 2010 north of Rock Springs provided the case with an important break when the driver, who first identified himself with an alias, turned out to be Christopher Scott Ayers, wanted by Minidoka County, Idaho authorities for probation violation.  A search of Ayers’s vehicle turned up methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, digital scales, and drug transaction records.   The continuing investigation ramped up in July of 2011, when Southwest Enforcement Team agents made a key undercover drug buy and the Sheriff’s Office Tactical Response Team arrested Felix Maldonado of Burley, Idaho, Juan Manuel Glaria-Ramirez of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mexico, and Sheila Anne Russell, also of Burley, Idaho.  Arrested later was Eden resident Steven E. Painovich.   Painovich, 60, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute and one count of distribution of at least 500 grams but not more than 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine.  He was also fined $15,000 and ordered to pay a $200.00 special assessment fee.  In addition, the Court ordered repayment of CJA Panel fees in the amount not to exceed $10,000, finding that Painovich failed to disclose substantial assets on his financial affidavit.  Ayers, 33, of Eden, Wyoming, and Burley, Idaho, received a sentence of 12 years and seven months, followed by five years of supervised release, plus a $200.00 special assessment for one count of conspiracy to distribute and to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to launder money.  Glaria-Ramirez, 37, pleaded guilty to charges related to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.  His sentence is pending.   31-year-old Sheila Russell was sentenced to 14 years.  Her charges include one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute methamphetamine, one count of conspiracy to launder money, one count of laundering of monetary instruments and aiding and abetting and one count of possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and aiding and abetting.  Felix Maldonado, 52, received a sentence of 151 months (12 years, seven months) for one count of distribution of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting, one count of possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and aiding and abetting and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute methamphetamine, followed by five years of supervised probation.