Julissa Poor Bear, Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, South Dakota 2020

A Martin, South Dakota, woman has been slammed with 16 years in federal prison for her central role in a multi-year methamphetamine trafficking ring that flooded Rapid City and the east side of the Pine Ridge Reservation with over 1.5 kilograms of the drug. Julissa Poor Bear, 31, pled guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance and was sentenced on July 31, 2020, by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey L. Viken.

Poor Bear’s criminal reach stretched from California to South Dakota, where she coordinated with co-conspirators to transport and distribute large quantities of meth. Between January 2015 and August 2016, she helped funnel the deadly drug into communities already ravaged by addiction and violence. Her operation wasn’t low-level street dealing—it was a calculated, organized effort that exploited tribal and rural jurisdictions.

But Poor Bear didn’t just sell drugs—she ruled through fear. Authorities say she threatened individuals connected to the conspiracy, wielded firearms during drug transactions, and even targeted a witness by posting about them on Facebook in a brazen attempt to intimidate. These actions added layers of danger to an already volatile criminal enterprise.

The case was cracked open by the Badlands Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, a coalition of federal and local agencies including the FBI, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Martin Police Department, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. Their investigation peeled back the layers of a network that crossed state lines and tribal boundaries.

Several co-conspirators have already been sentenced, but one remains at large—Wicahpe Milk, who is pending trial. Poor Bear, who has been in custody since April 2019, was immediately handed over to the U.S. Marshals Service following sentencing. She’ll serve 16 years behind bars, followed by five years of supervised release and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn N. Rich prosecuted the case, delivering a stark message: trafficking poison into vulnerable communities carries severe consequences. For Julissa Poor Bear, the price of her criminal enterprise is 16 years of her life—and a permanent mark on the record of federal drug enforcement in South Dakota.

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