PINE RIDGE, S.D. - A Chihuahua, Mexico man has been sentenced to just over three years in federal prison for trafficking drugs in South Dakota, including on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Ubaldo Balderrama-Marquez, 59, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. He was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2006.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the conviction stems from a cocaine trafficking operation based out of Denver, Colorado. Authorities say Balderrama-Marquez and his brothers—Jose, Miguel, and Rafael Balderrama-Marquez—sold large quantities of cocaine and marijuana to people including Ken Walking Eagle and John Ladeaux for resale throughout South Dakota and the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The case was investigated by the Badlands Safe Trails Task Force, which includes agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, and officers with the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety.