Livingston Man Gets 78 Months for Meth Conspiracy

Rian Lee Kvernes, a 28-year-old man from Livingston, Montana, is headed to federal prison for 78 months after admitting to a methamphetamine distribution scheme that flooded parts of the state with poison in early 2016. Kvernes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, a charge that unraveled a network of drug deals and illegal gun swaps across central Montana.

The investigation painted a grim picture of Kvernes’ operation: he and an associate traded 10 to 15 stolen long guns for a single ounce of methamphetamine in Butte. That transaction wasn’t isolated. Authorities uncovered a pattern of bartering firearms for drugs, turning weapons stolen from law-abiding citizens into tools for addiction and further criminal enterprise.

When federal agents and task force officers executed a search warrant at Kvernes’ residence, they found a cache of criminal evidence behind his bedroom door. Alongside methamphetamine and drug distribution supplies sat a short-barreled shotgun — illegally modified and ready to use. Investigators also recovered 12 additional stolen firearms, each one a potential death sentence waiting to be triggered.

U.S. District Judge Susan Watters handed down the sentence in Billings, imposing 78 months in federal prison followed by four years of supervised release. The consequences are severe, but so were the crimes: Kvernes didn’t just sell drugs — he fueled a cycle of violence by trading in weapons ripped from the hands of victims or pulled from stolen vehicles.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Godfrey and Paulette Stewart and built through relentless fieldwork by the Missouri River Drug Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Their joint effort dismantled a small but dangerous node in Montana’s underground criminal economy.

This sentencing is part of the Department of Justice’s reinvigorated Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal initiative targeting violent crime hotspots through coordinated law enforcement action. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana is leveraging the program to crack down on those who traffic in both drugs and guns — like Rian Lee Kvernes — sending a clear message: deal in violence, pay in years.