Fort Hall Drug Dealer Sentenced For Federal Drug Offenses

Thursday, June 5, 2025, 10:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

POCATELLO, ID.- A 39-year-old Fort Hall, Idaho, man will be spending the next seven years in federal prison after being sentenced last Tuesday for distributing deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine throughout the Fort Hall area and elsewhere in the District of Idaho.

     On May 27, 2025, Walker Dean Cates, 39, of Fort Hall, Idaho, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho and was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill to 84 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine; and Conspiracy to Distribute Fentanyl.

     According to Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott and charging documents filed with the District Court, during an ongoing federal narcotics investigation into the distribution of illicit narcotics within the Fort Hall, Idaho, area, Cates sold quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine to a confidential informant on three separate occasions from his Fort Hall residence, during controlled buys under the observation of law enforcement investigators.

Cates And Codefendant Sell Narcotics To Informant

     On April 11, 2024, Cates sold around 3.58 grams of methamphetamine to the informant. On July 22, 2024, Cates and his co-defendant, Mariah Dawn Russell, sold 10.92 grams of fentanyl to the informant. Then, finally, on August 21, 2024, Cates and co-defendant Russell sold 505.7 grams of fentanyl to the informant. Sometime after conducting the controlled buys, federal agents obtained arrest warrants for Cates’ and Russell’s arrest.

     On October 9, 2024, Agents and Police Officers traveled to Cates’ Fort Hall home to arrest him pursuant to the federal arrest warrant. When they arrived, Cates fled in his vehicle at a high rate of speed. Officers from multiple law enforcement agencies pursued Cates through a residential area and the backroads of Fort Hall, Idaho. Officers were successfully able to apprehend Cates after he crashed his vehicle in a rural area of Fort Hall.

     During the investigation, Cates was held responsible for distributing a total of 516.62 grams of fentanyl and 3.58 grams of methamphetamine. Cates previously appeared in Federal Court in Pocatello, Idaho, on February 2025 and pleaded guilty to the charges.

     On December 16, 2024, Cates’s codefendant Russell pleaded guilty to federal narcotics violations and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17, 2025.