Man sentenced for running drug ring out of Grand Forks County Jail

GRAND FORKS, ND  --  A Minneapolis man has been sentenced for running an illegal drug operation out of the Grand Forks County Jail. According to law enforcement, Timothy Eason used the jail's communication facilities to direct fentanyl and methamphetamine shipments from Arizona to the Fargo-Moorhead area while he was being held at the facility from late 2021 to 2022. Eason was charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and money laundering. At a Thursday sentencing hearing, he was sentenced to 204 months in prison. 

U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider says "Distributing dangerous drugs like fentanyl and meth puts lives at risk in our communities, and arranging shipments of these drugs from a county jail, as today’s sentence shows, is a surefire way to land an even longer stay in a federal prison. This result is a real credit to the teamwork of our local, state, and federal partners.”

The case was investigated by the Grand Forks Narcotics Task Force, Grand Forks Police, the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security Investigations, United States Postal Inspection Service, Cass County Drug Task Force and Moorhead Police.