Rapid City Man Sentenced to Over 15 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that District Judge Camela C. Theeler has sentenced a Rapid City, man convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance. The sentencing took place on March 23, 2026.

Zachariah Highelk, 35, was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Highelk was indicted for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance by a federal grand jury in February 2025. He pleaded guilty on December 3, 2025.

Between 2019 and 2024, Highelk took trips to Colorado and Washington to meet with his sources of supply to purchase bulk amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl. He would then return to Rapid City, SD, and begin distributing the drugs to others in the community.

Highelk was responsible for multiple pounds of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills being distributed throughout the Rapid City community, spreading on to Indian reservations in the State.

"This was an incredible takedown by South Dakota and federal law enforcement that we believe put a substantial dent in the drug trade," said U.S. Attorney Parsons. "For any methamphetamine or fentanyl ingested in western South Dakota over the past several years, there is a decent chance it passed through this drug dealer's hands at some point. He will spend the next fifteen years reflecting on that from a federal prison cell. On to the next."

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

This case was investigated by the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team (UNET), the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. UNET is comprised of law enforcement from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, the Rapid City Police Department, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the South Dakota National Guard. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Petersen prosecuted the case.

Highelk was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.