RAPID CITY, S.D. – A multi-agency drug task force has announced the arrest of a Hot Springs man and the seizure of a large amount of methamphetamine as part of a joint investigation into drug trafficking in Western South Dakota and Wyoming.
The Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team (UNET), which includes agents from the South Dakota Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, the Rapid City Police Department, and the South Dakota Highway Patrol, announced the arrest of James William Reese, 61.
Reese was arrested in Oglala Lakota County following a joint investigation with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, which determined that methamphetamine was being brought into Rapid City from Colorado. Authorities seized approximately 212.5 grams of methamphetamine in connection with the arrest.
According to his booking information from the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, Reese, inmate number 7015115, was booked on July 17, 2025. He is being held for the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office with a court date set for August 28, 2025. He faces multiple charges, including felony distribution and manufacturing of a controlled substance, felony possession of a controlled substance, and misdemeanor eluding law enforcement. He also faces a felony charge of distribution or manufacturing of a controlled drug with a $7,500 cash-only bond.
Reese also faces multiple other felony and misdemeanor charges and has outstanding warrants in Pennington County, Custer County, and Fall River County. The charges include felony distribution and manufacturing of a controlled substance, felony possession of a controlled substance, and felony keeping a place for the use or sale of controlled drugs.
The case highlights the importance of interagency collaboration to combat drug trafficking in the Black Hills. Participating agencies included the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, the Bureau of Indian Affairs-Division of Drug Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation and the members of UNET.
Reese is presumed innocent until proven guilty under the U.S. Constitution.