KYLE, S.D. — A 49-year-old Kyle man has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy in Pine Ridge and Rapid City.

Nathan Tobacco-Clifford pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Prosecutors said he and several co-defendants traveled from the Pine Ridge Reservation to Greeley, Colorado, to obtain meth from co-defendant Misty Hornbeck. As News Channel Nebraska previously reported, Hornbeck has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.

On one trip, the co-conspirators were arrested in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, while attempting to transport meth back to the reservation. Investigators said between 500 grams and 1.5 kilograms of meth were distributed during the conspiracy, with the co-conspirators selling drugs to support their own use.

Tobacco-Clifford was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Badlands Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is comprised of agents from the FBI, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety.