Ricky Lee Young, Jr., Cocaine Conspiracy, South Dakota 2022

A Kansas City man has been sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison for his role in a cocaine conspiracy in South Dakota.

Ricky Lee Young, Jr., 39, was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison, followed by 4 years of supervised release, by District Judge Karen E. Schreier on January 9, 2023.

Young was charged with Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance by a federal grand jury in April 2022. He pleaded guilty on October 7, 2022.

According to court documents, in the summer of 2021, Young and his co-conspirator rented a storage unit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This storage unit was intended to hold the controlled substances they obtained from Kansas City, to distribute them throughout the Sioux Falls area. Young would make trips with his co-conspirator to this storage unit and either retrieve or drop off crack cocaine to further their distribution.

On October 1, 2021, law enforcement searched their storage unit and found approximately 100 grams of a mixture and substance containing cocaine base, also known as crack cocaine.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation, South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the Sioux Falls Police Department. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Petersen prosecuted the case.

Young was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. He was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

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