Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

BILLINGS  — A Billings man who admitted to trafficking methamphetamine after he was arrested in Rosebud County was sentenced today to 70 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Stefan Shane Hickel, 34, pleaded guilty on August 11, 2022, to possession with intent to distribute meth.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

In court documents, the government alleged that in September 2021, a drug task force in Billings was investigating Hickel for drug trafficking. Hickel had absconded from state supervision on a distribution charge. Law enforcement received information that Hickel was at a motel in Forsyth. Officers executed a search warrant and found Hickel with meth and drug paraphernalia in the room. Hickel admitted to being both a user and distributor of meth.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas K. Godfrey prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

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