United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SPOKANE, Wash. - Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that a federal grand jury has indicted Charles Lee Dickerson on one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute 50 Grams of Actual Methamphetamine and one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute 40 Grams of Fentanyl.

According to court documents, On November 20, 2023, Kalispel Tribal Police (KTP) Officers received a call from the Tribal Gaming Authority team monitoring surveillance cameras at Northern Quest Resort and Casino. The Tribal Gaming Authority team reported security camera video showing an alleged drug transaction between two people in two vehicles in the Casino Parking lot.

KTP Officers reviewed the video and observed a man, later identified as Charles Lee Dickerson, smoking off a foil while seated in the driver seat of a red Jeep Trackhawk. Officers also saw what appeared to be a hand-to-hand exchange between Dickerson and another man in the parking lot.

KTP Officers detained and read Dickerson his Miranda warnings which Dickerson confirmed he understood. Officers then asked for consent to search him for an ID and search a satchel he was wearing at the time of the stop. Officers found approximately 12 grams of cocaine. Dickerson also had 136 “skittles” (multi-colored pills suspected to contain fentanyl) in his pants pocket. Officers also found $18,000 in U.S. Currency in the satchel.

During questioning at the Drug Enforcement Administration Spokane District Office, Dickerson stated a man had given him a quantity of meth and 10,000 pills from Mexico and that it would be found in the Jeep Trackhawk. Agents searched the vehicle and found one pound of meth, thousands of multi-color pills believed to contain fentanyl, and a quantity of cocaine.

“Illegal drugs and fentanyl have become a scourge across the United States and especially in Native Communities. My office is committed to aggressively stopping, and bringing to justice, those who peddle this deadly poison in Indian country”, stated U.S. Attorney Waldref. “I am grateful for our Tribal and law enforcement partners who work together to protect our communities and make them safer and stronger.”

This case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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