Missouri Man Sentenced to Over 12 Years for Cocaine Conspiracy

SIOUX FALLS – United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Kansas City, Missouri, man convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. The sentencing took place on January 9, 2023.

Ricky Lee Young, Jr., 39, was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in federal prison, followed by four years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

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

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, in order 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, a/k/a 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.