Cd'A man sentenced in Lewiston drug ring case
COEUR d’ALENE — A Coeur d’Alene man who transported large quantities of methamphetamine to Lewiston and the Nez Perce Reservation was sentenced this week in Coeur d’Alene federal court to eight years in prison.
Adam A. Weinberger, 57, was among more than a half dozen drug dealers from a three-state drug ring that included North Idaho, eastern Washington and Oregon who were sentenced in U.S. District Court after being arrested by police in Lewiston.
Weinberger was sentenced Wednesday along with William Morris Antelope, 47, of Cheney, who will serve more than three years in a federal prison.
Weinberger was carrying three-quarters of a pound of methamphetamine when he was nabbed by Lewiston police, Detective Cody Bloomsburg said.
In an effort to throw a net over methamphetamine and heroin dealers transporting drugs through North Idaho to the Lewiston-Clarkston valley and the nearby Nez Perce Indian Reservation, Bloomsburg’s department worked with a local drug task force and the FBI, as well as Coeur d’Alene Police, and state police investigators starting in 2016, he said.
Five defendants linked to the drug ring have already been sentenced, according to U.S. District Attorney Bart M. Davis. Salvador Saucedo, 27, of Milton-Freewater, Ore., was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Robin Jo Rose, 31, of Lewiston was sentenced to 10 years. Andrew Byers, 28, of Craigmont, was sentenced to 10 years. Kyle Seidel, 32, of Lewiston was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, and Brice Heimgartner, 25, of Clarkston, Wash., was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison.
Rose and Heimgartner were caught with 1/4 pound of meth, Bloomsburg said, and Seidel and Byers were caught in Lewiston with a pound of meth and an ounce of heroin.
“We had been receiving information about them for several months and believed they were responsible for distributing large quantities of both meth and heroin into the LC Valley,” Bloomsburg said. “Then we got information from the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) about Antelope and caught him in Lewiston with a pound of meth.”
Police also seized guns and cash during numerous searches and arrests, he said.
In addition to his 92-month sentence, Weinberger will be on federal probation for eight years after his release, Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered. Antelope will be placed on five years probation after he gets out of prison.
Bloomsburg attributed information-sharing between agencies in central and North Idaho, and eastern Washington, to the busts.
“Their work allowed us all to do a great deal of good for the LC Valley and North Idaho,” he said.