Pine Ridge man sentenced to 20 years for distributing meth
Phil Pond helped lead a conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine between 2022 and 2024.
By News Channel Nebraska
PINE RIDGE, S.D. - A 42-year-old Pine Ridge man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City.
Phil Pond helped lead a conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine between 2022 and 2024.
Prosecutors say Pond wasn’t just selling drugs—he acted as the group’s enforcer, using threats, intimidation and violence to collect money from people who owed drug debts. He also supplied meth to someone under the age of 21.
Some of Pond’s co-conspirators traveled to the Denver area to pick up meth, while others got it locally in Pine Ridge and Rapid City.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Badlands Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, which includes multiple agencies such as the South Dakota DCI, BIA Drug Enforcement, Martin Police, and Oglala Sioux Tribe DPS.