$67,000 Walmart Cash Drop, 57 Pounds of Meth From Iowa: Billings, Montana, Man Caught in Mexico Gets 14 Years — the Same Sentence as His ‘Main Man’ Brother
Joshua Jacob Best, a 41-year-old Billings, Montana, man who prosecutors say made a $67,000 cash drop in a Walmart parking lot and lined up a rental car that police later found carrying 57 pounds of meth from Des Moines, Iowa, was sentenced Oct. 1, 2026, to 14 years and two months in federal prison. That matches the sentence his brother, Raymond Best Jr., received a week earlier. Like his brother, Joshua Best fled to Mexico and was caught there, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said in an Oct. 1 release.
A cash drop to an undercover agent
According to the government’s court filings, as summarized by the office, a drug ring run out of Mexico and active in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and California had operators in Billings. A Billings police informant said in June 2023 that Raymond Best was bringing “pounds of meth” into the city. Investigators came to believe Joshua Best was helping move cash and drugs between Mexico and Billings.
In October 2023, during a DEA undercover operation, he arranged to hand $67,000 to someone he believed was a co-conspirator, prosecutors said. That person was actually an undercover agent, and the plan was for the money to go on to their supplier in the Los Angeles area. Best arrived in a black Chevy Camaro and made the drop.
57 pounds on the road from Iowa
In January 2024, the DEA learned Best had rented a car and arranged for a courier to drive it from Des Moines to Billings. Officers stopped the car after it left Des Moines and found 57 pounds of meth, about a kilogram of cocaine and about 2 pounds of marijuana, the release said. Best was the contact who was supposed to pick up the load in Billings.
In March 2024, he crashed a black Camaro on Monad Road and ran, dropping two heat-sealed bags. Officers who searched the car found about a pound of meth and documents belonging to him.
Caught in Mexico, like his brother
The DEA and U.S. Marshals Service, working with Mexican authorities, caught Best in Mexico and brought him back, the office said, without saying where or when. He pleaded guilty in May 2026 to possession with intent to distribute meth. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters also ordered 10 years of supervised release; a local report by KMHK added a $7,500 fine. Raymond Best, whom a police source called the ring’s “main man” in Billings, was also caught in Mexico and got 14 years and two months on Sept. 24.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana: Billings man sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for trafficking meth as part of drug ring (Oct. 1, 2026)
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana: Billings man pleads guilty to drug charges (May 21, 2026)
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana: Billings man captured in Mexico sentenced to 14 years (Raymond Best, September 2026)
- KMHK: Billings Man Receives 14-Year Federal Sentence in Meth Case (Oct. 2, 2026)
- Photos: Quintin Soloviev via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0); Sara goth via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Reported Oct. 2, 2026, from U.S. Attorney’s Office releases and KMHK. The facts above are the government’s allegations as described in court filings; Joshua Best pleaded guilty to a single possession-with-intent count. The releases did not name the Mexico-based group or tie it to any cartel.