Livingston fentanyl trafficker sentenced to more than six years in prison

BILLINGS - A Livingston man who admitted to traveling to Washington to get fentanyl pills for distribution in the Park County community and violating release conditions was sentenced today to a total of six years and nine months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, David Scott Retzer, 42, pleaded guilty in March to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

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

The court also sentenced Retzer to 10 months in prison in a revocation hearing after finding Retzer violated conditions of release in a previous drug case. The sentence in the revocation is to run consecutive to a 71-month sentence in the fentanyl case, for total of 81 months in prison.

The government alleged in court documents that in June 2022, law enforcement began receiving information that Retzer was involved in distributing fentanyl pills and later that year began tracking Retzer as he traveled to Washington from Montana. In December 2022, law enforcement pulled over Retzer's vehicle as it entered Park County and searched it pursuant to a warrant. Retzer had a fake battery in his possession that contained 70 fentanyl pills. Additional bags of fentanyl pills were also located in the vehicle. An individual who traveled with Retzer told law enforcement that they had gone to Washington to get fentanyl and had bought 950 pills but had been shorted by the source. In a search of Retzer's cell phone, law enforcement located numerous conversations in which Retzer discussed distributing fentanyl. At the time of the offense, Retzer was on supervision for a federal drug trafficking offense involving heroin.

The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the case. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Park County Sheriff's Office, Montana Highway Patrol and Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation.

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