Billings woman sentenced to 15 years in prison for trafficking meth directly from Mexico to Montana

BILLINGS -A Billings woman convicted at trial by a federal jury of trafficking methamphetamine by using her U.S. passport to bring the drug across the Mexico border and into California for mailing to Montana for distribution was sentenced on Sept. 13 to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said today.

The defendant, Dawn Marie Guevara, 44, who was living in Tijuana, Mexico, was found guilty in a March trial of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Waters presided.

In court documents and at trial, the government alleged that Guevara conspired with others to distribute pounds of meth in the Billings community from about July 2018 to December 2018. Law enforcement learned that Guevara, who was living in Mexico, was selling meth to an individual through social media orders and arranging to have another person in Billings receive the meth and complete the transaction. While living in Mexico, Guevara recruited her niece, Ashley Chesmore, to deliver the drugs. Chesmore was prosecuted in 2019 and sentenced to four years in federal prison for her role in the case.

Investigators determined that Guevara would obtain meth in Mexico, cross into the United States using her U.S. passport and mail the meth from a post office in San Ysidro. Money collected from sales was wired to Guevara in Mexico. Border crossing information determined that Guevara entered the United States through the San Ysidro Port of Entry approximately 20 times between July 7, 2018 and Oct. 18, 2018. After her indictment in 2019, Guevara did not cross the border a single time between 2019 and 2023. Guevara was arrested in 2023 in the United States.

The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the case. The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Postal Service conducted the investigation.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

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