Missoula Woman Sentenced for Meth and Fentanyl in Federal Court

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - A 34-year-old Missoula woman was recently sentenced in Missoula Federal District Court for possessing methamphetamine and fentanyl pills.

In the case of Lindsay Anne Rumpf, U.S. Attorney for Montana Jesse Laslovich praised the Montana Violent Crimes Task Force for its work in bringing drug criminals to justice.

The U.S. Attorney for Montana Jesse Laslovich Shares News of Drug Conviction

“As part of our collective work in and around Missoula, and by collective work, I mean, our Violent Crime Task Force is a task force that is comprised of various law enforcement, state, local and federal agencies,” began Laslovich. “These are people who have my deepest respect because they're the boots on the ground working confidential informants and sources to try to track down the people who are poisoning our communities.”

Laslovich said authorities proved that Rumpf played a leading role in distributing dangerous drugs.

“Due to that work, and due to holding some other people accountable, we learned about the defendant who ultimately was sentenced today to 70 months in federal prison, and then five years of supervised release in this instance and we believe that she was one of the leaders of supplying drugs in and around Missoula,” he said. “And so pursuant to a traffic stop, we were able to catch her with about a pound of meth approximately 1,000 fentanyl pills, some drug paraphernalia, and a gun.”

Laslovich said the Convicted Drug Dealer Turned State's Evidence

Laslovich said Rumpf turned state’s evidence to reduce her sentence through her cooperation with authorities.

“She ultimately pled to it, and she cooperated with us,” he said. “That's another unique aspect of this work in the drug world where we're able to get to the extent the defendants willing to cooperate and it is to their benefit under the federal sentencing guidelines that if they are cooperative, then that can positively impact their sentence, meaning they possibly could be serving less time in federal prison. If they don't cooperate, then they’re stuck, so we can learn about other people and then the Task Force can continue to do their work and then bring us the cases. We prosecute them and try to hold them accountable like we did here with this individual.”

Laslovich asks Montanans  'If You See Something, Say Something'

Laslovich said drug crimes often occur in places like hotels and motels, and he asks Montana citizens to help authorities saying, ‘If you see something, say something’.

“In at least one of these cases the background was activity in a hotel room,” he said. “We knew about it based on again, as I said some of the former work that our folks were doing, but many of us stay in hotels when we travel and if you see something suspicious that tip could literally be the difference between life and death for someone overdosing on fentanyl.”

Rumpf was found to be in possession of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.