Kyle, South Dakota Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years in Federal Prison for His Role in a Drug Distribution Conspiracy in Pine Ridge and Rapid City

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a man from Kyle, South Dakota, convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. The sentencing took place on September 19, 2025.

Nathan Tobacco-Clifford, 49, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Tobacco-Clifford was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024 for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. He pleaded guilty on April 23, 2025.

Tobacco-Clifford's conviction stems from the distribution of methamphetamine on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City, South Dakota. During the course of the conspiracy, Tobacco-Clifford and several of his codefendants traveled from the Pine Ridge Reservation to Greeley, Colorado, to obtain methamphetamine from codefendant Misty Hornbeck. On one occasion, the co-conspirators attempted to bring methamphetamine into South Dakota from Colorado, but were arrested in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, en route to the Pine Ridge Reservation. Each of the codefendants sold methamphetamine to support their own drug use. Between 500 grams and 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine was distributed during this criminal enterprise.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Badlands Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is comprised of agents from the FBI, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Knox prosecuted the case.

Tobacco-Clifford was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.