Eden Man Indicted on Possession and Distribution of Methamphetamine (DOJ)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - A Utah man was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with a drug crime after he allegedly possessed and attempted to distribute methamphetamine in the District of Utah.

Christopher Eric Johnson, 40, of Eden, Utah, was charged by complaint on January 2, 2026.

According to the allegations in court documents, in November 2025, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), and the Unified Police Department (UPD) began investigating Johnson after information was received that Johnson was selling kilograms of methamphetamine. The investigation revealed, Johnson was communicating directly with a cartel member in Mexico to arrange for kilogram quantity shipments of methamphetamine to be sent to Utah. On November 18, 2025, a cooperating defendant from a separate drug arrest contacted Johnson asking for a quarter pound of methamphetamine and they agreed to meet in Midvale, Utah. Detectives conducted surveillance waiting for Johnson to arrive. Subsequently, he was taken into custody and law enforcement seized clear bags containing a crystal-like substance, which field tested positive for methamphetamine.

Johnson is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. His initial appearance on the indictment was before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.

United States Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated jointly by the United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Unified Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Assistant United States Attorney Vernon G. Stejskal of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The case was investigated by agents and officers of the HSTF Salt Lake and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.