Second key suspect sentenced
The second of two key suspects in a Longmont drug operation was sentenced to 28 years in prison Friday.
Michael Reed, 46, pleaded guilty in November to a violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, distribu- tion of a controlled substance and money laundering.
Attorneys agreed as part of the plea deal that Reed would receive a prison sentence between 22 and 32 years, and Reed on Friday was sentenced by Boulder District Judge Norma Sierra to 28 years in prison on the COCCA violation. He was also sentenced to 16 years on the distribution and money laundering counts, but those sentences will be served concurrent to the 28-year sentence.
The sentence is identical in length to the one Boulder District Judge Andrew Hartman gave to Joshua Ward, the other key defendant in the case.
“It is clear that he took a lead role in the organization, he repeated and increased his role within the drug distribution community, and he imported and distributed massive quantities of deadly narcotics,” Boulder Deputy District Attorney Erica Baasten said in a statement.
Reed was one of more than 30 defendants indicted as par t of a case called
Operation Misfire headed by Longmont police targeting an alleged drug enterprise peddling large amounts of prescription drugs, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
In late 2018, the Longmont Police Department began investigating Reed and Ward as major players in the operation.
A grand jur y indictment released October 2019 accused Ward and Reed of procuring “pound level amounts of methamphetamine and large quantities of fentanyl pills.”
“This drug operation took a terrible toll on our community and (Reed) preyed upon individuals in the throes of drug addiction,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougher ty said. “This man pushed a tremendous amount of drugs into this community for his own profit. It is particularly disturbing that he knowingly sold large quantities of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, which can be deadly. I appreciate the tireless efforts of the investigators and Senior Deputy District Attorney Erica Baasten in bringing this drug ring to justice.”
Only one person in the case, Raymundo Leon, remains set for trial in the case.