{KXLG – Rapid City, SD} United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that Curtis Cummings, 39, of Rapid City, South Dakota, has received a 30-year sentence in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier issued the sentence, which includes five years of supervised release, restitution, and a $100 special assessment for the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Cummings was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2023 and found guilty after a three-day jury trial on November 7, 2024. The conviction resulted from a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in Rapid City, leading to a fatal overdose.
Cummings and his wife, Katey McGruder, obtained large quantities of fentanyl from a Colorado source on a weekly basis. The fentanyl was then brought back to their Rapid City home for further distribution by Christina Sanchez and other conspirators. On April 26, 2022, Cummings and McGruder provided fentanyl to Sanchez, who then supplied it to Wyatt Nygaard. Nygaard provided the fentanyl to the victim, who tragically overdosed and died in a convenience store parking lot shortly after ingesting the drug.
The Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team (UNET), which includes law enforcement officials from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, Rapid City Police Department, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, South Dakota Highway Patrol, and the South Dakota National Guard, investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan Dilges and Edward Tarbay prosecuted the case. Nygaard had previously been sentenced to over 23 years in federal prison, while McGruder and Sanchez each received 20-year federal prison sentences.
Following his sentencing, Cummings was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
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