RAPID CITY, S.D. – United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that District Court Judge Camela C. Theeler has sentenced a man from Belle Fourche, South Dakota, for Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. The sentencing took place on July 14, 2025.
Turner Heinbaugh, 35, was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Heinbaugh was indicted for Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering by a federal grand jury in November 2024. He pleaded guilty on April 22, 2025.
The money that Heinbaugh laundered was generated from a methamphetamine operation in the Black Hills. Heinbaugh worked with others to collect drug proceeds and then sent the proceeds through electronic payments to other co-conspirators in the United States and Mexico. Altogether, investigators believe Heinbaugh was responsible for transferring approximately $98,000 in drug proceeds through financial institutions. He was also involved in selling methamphetamine during his involvement in the conspiracy.
This case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a federal program established in 1982 to combat transnational organized crime and reduce the availability of illicit narcotics in the nation by using a prosecutor-led, multi-agency approach to drug enforcement. OCDETF leverages the resources and expertise of its partners in concentrated, coordinated, long-term investigations of transnational organized crime, money laundering, and major drug trafficking networks.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team (UNET), and the Drug Enforcement Administration. UNET is comprised of law enforcement from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, the Rapid City Police Department, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the South Dakota National Guard. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Hodges and Paige Petersen prosecuted the case.
Heinbaugh was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
