Mexican Cartel Tied To Real-Life “Breaking Bad” Meth Bust On Crow Reservation

Frederica Lefthand held a doctorate degree in education. She was part of an outreach program supporting Native American nursing students. Lefthand served as dean of admissions at Little Big Horn College on the Crow Indian Reservation.

Then she fell “deep in the cartel’s clutches,” according to court documents.

Lefthand’s rise and fall as a drug queenpin of a meth ring based in a small community just north of the Wyoming border reveals details about the role women now play in the hierarchy of reservation crime.

Her story also presents a confounding fall from grace that traces some spiritual ties back to the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming.

She pleaded guilty in August 2023 and was sentenced this past May. But it was just last week that the U.S. Attorney’s Office outlined just how high up she sat as a leader in a meth distribution ring. Lefthand is now serving a 24-year sentence in a federal prison in Alabama.

She pleaded guilty to running a multistate drug scheme from January 2022 through March 2023. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Billings held a press conference Nov. 14, where Lefthand’s name was posted near the top of a chain-of-command chart, beneath two alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 

Those two remain fugitives, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but Lefthand and 26 others were prosecuted as part of what’s now referred to as the “Spear Siding” case. She’s the highest-ranking member of the meth ring so far who’s been caught and convicted, the agency reports.

Lefthand and other family members lived in a small cluster of homesteads about halfway between Lodge Grass and Wyola on Highway 451. The area is known as Spear Siding, and it’s considered a sacred ceremonial site where an annual sun dance is held in June or July.

Now the name is sullied by its connection to this case, something that concerns tribal members in Montana and Wyoming. 

How Did She Break So Bad?

From 2001-2018, Lefthand built a resume and community-minded reputation that seemed geared toward protecting the health and welfare of her fellow tribal members. Her name appears in the acknowledgments of a public health study promoting child well-being on the Crow Reservation. 

Lefthand also was profiled by the Journal of American Indian Higher Education in 2010, when she said her job at Little Big Horn College was to “recruit, retain and graduate our own.” 

“It’s about growing our own leaders,” Lefthand said. “We want them to work here … be a leader here.”

Clues about how Lefthand went from recruiting promising college students to recruiting new drug dealers appear in court documents. 

“While her education could be viewed as a reason to suggest she was ‘smart enough to know better,’ with all due respect, she fits the mold of ‘book smart/street dumb.’ She is a very bright, charismatic person. However, she was way over her head in this drug conspiracy,” wrote Lefthand’s attorney Lance Lundvall in her sentencing memorandum.

He described Lefthand’s decision to enter the drug trade as an act of desperation aimed at helping her brother, Wendell Lefthand. 

“Wendell was in big trouble with the Mexican cartel long before Ms. Lefthand interjected herself,” continues the memorandum. “She feared for his well-being in light of how much he owed the cartel. He was eventually incarcerated, and Ms. Lefthand took it upon herself to get involved to help pay off her brother’s debt.” 

The Carlos Connection

From there, according to court documents, she fell into a relationship with a cartel member identified only as “Carlos” by investigators. 

“While the government has consistently portrayed Ms. Lefthand as a leader of this conspiracy, it simply isn’t true,” Lundvall argued before Lefthand’s sentencing. “She was absolutely in a relationship with Carlos, Defendant No. 1. But she had no authority, no decision-making role, no leadership role.

“Carlos and his cohorts from Mexico were the leaders and organizers of this conspiracy.”

The prosecution countered that an intercepted text message showed Lefthand recruiting new dealers when she typed, “Start thinking about a few of your other peeps who might want to purchase or be great distributors … if you know what I mean jellybean!”

The cartel’s demand for more distributors and customers is also documented, according to a Nov. 14 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which noted, “Frederica Lefthand worked directly with co-defendant 1, dispensed drugs to lower-level dealers, collected debts, organized deals and recruited others to help her sell drugs and make money. Sources reported that Spear Siding would ‘never run out’ of meth.”

Arrests

Then on the night of Jan. 5, 2023, law enforcement was called to Lefthand’s residence in Spear Siding, where a woman reported being threatened by an unnamed man with a gun. When officers arrived, two women jumped out of a window screaming and ran toward law enforcement. 

When Lefthand was eventually apprehended, she was armed with a pistol and was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. 

More members of the tribal community were arrested, including a low-level dealer named Ranita Roselle Redfield who, according to her sentencing memorandum, was “trapped in the vicious cycle of addiction and under the cartel's control. Ranita became a pawn in their operations. Her tasks included menial labor such as home repairs, livestock care, and running errands in exchange for nominal amounts of cash and drugs.”

Investigators and attorneys associated with Lefthand’s case point out other alleged ways cartels pull women into drug dealing networks. 

The court record includes quotes from a February 2024 NBC News article that states, “Women are often prime targets. Cartel associates have pursued single women on reservations, according to lawenforcement and tribal officials, and then used their homes as bases of operations.”  

“So it is here,” continued Lefthand’s sentencing memo. “Ms. Lefthand was targeted by the cartel. She was naive in the ways of the drug world that was groomed and pulled in through being compassionate for her brother, by the direct grooming efforts.”

The Spear Siding investigation culminated in April 2023 when the DEA, FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs, with assistance from local law enforcement, arrested numerous people at Spear Siding in a coordinated takedown. 

In addition to the neighboring Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, the operation reportedly stretched into Wyoming and eastern Washington. It also expanded north to the Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belknap reservations and to the Billings and Havre communities. 

Those swept up in the sting included Lefthand’s daughter, Sayra Longfox, 25, who pleaded not guilty in October to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Bethlehem To Sodom And Gomorrah

Charlene Sleeper did not grow up near Speak Siding, but she knew about the cultural significance of the name.

She was raised in the Crow Reservation community around Hardin, and now Sleeper works on missing and murdered indigenous people issues from Billings. Like many in Crow Country, she followed the case involving Lefthand.

“She had a community reputation because of her other work that wasn’t crime related,” Sleeper told Cowboy State Daily. “She appears to be an upstanding citizen, and you find a dark side to them. I don’t think I ever expected to see this come about. It’s kind of shocking.”

Drug crimes are not shocking anymore, said Sleeper, as selling drugs is now a normalized way to generate income on reservations. 

Sleeper praised law enforcement for holding tribal members accountable for drug crimes, but takes issue with labeling the drug network “Spear Siding.”

Down by Highway 451 in Spear Siding, there’s a smattering of homes, including Lefthand’s former residence. Then up on the plateau above is an open field where an annual sun dance is held. 

“‘Spear Siding,’ the term itself is a word we used to describe the grandfather sun dance ceremony,” said Sleeper. “Now one of our sacred words is going to be perceived negatively. That’s how we spiritually feel. It’s like changing the name ‘Bethlehem’ to ‘Sodom and Gomorrah.’”

Every summer, Crow sun dancers gather with Eastern Shoshone tribal members from Wyoming to participate in the Thursday through Sunday ceremony. Sleeper plans to be there this summer, and she hopes those searching for details are not buried by news stories about Lefthand and others involved in the recently broken-up drug ring. 

“It was a poor decision by law enforcement,” insisted Sleeper. “It essentially erases the true name of what that signifies. ‘Oh, you’re talking about drugs.’ No, we’re talking about the sun dance.”

Sleeper worries the insensitive use of the “Spear Siding” name in this drug case will come up in conversation as she tries to work future cases involving murdered and missing indigenous people.

“It’s just more proof that non-natives are irresponsible when telling the indigenous narrative,” said Sleeper, who added in a social media post. “The law enforcement agencies involved with this operation named the operation ‘Spear Siding’ because it's a super cool sounding name. Not because it's a gang or organized crime organization.”

Today from behind bars in Aliceville, Alabama, Lefthand appears to be looking for ways to return to her life as an academic. She posts journal entries to an online forum called “Prison Professors Talent.” 

In a post Oct. 3, Lefthand wrote, “I try to help people not be so negative and try to influence other inmates to think about the brighter side to all situations. I let them know how this is an extremely humbling experience for me but nonetheless I am here. I invite others to join positive activities. I am trying to continue to lead by example … Wish me luck!”

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.