Tipped as the ‘Main Man’ Bringing 50 to 100 Pounds of Meth Into Billings: Montana Dealer Captured in Mexico Gets 14 Years
Raymond Eugene Best Jr., a 44-year-old Billings man whom a police source called the “main man” moving 50 to 100 pounds of meth into the Montana city, was sentenced Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, to 14 years and two months in federal prison after being captured in Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said in a Sept. 25 release. Prosecutors described the drug ring he belonged to as based out of Mexico.
A Mexico-based ring supplying four states
According to the government’s court filings, as summarized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, investigators began looking in 2023 at a trafficking ring based out of Mexico that was bringing meth, cocaine and fentanyl into Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, California and elsewhere.
On June 12, 2023, a source told the Billings Police Department that Best was the “main man” in Billings, bringing in 50 to 100 pounds of meth and tens of thousands of fentanyl pills, prosecutors said. He was described as a dealer, not a user, who stored drugs at other people’s houses. Best pleaded guilty in May 2026 to one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances; U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters also ordered 10 years of supervised release.
Running the deal from Mexico
In August 2023, officers searching a co-conspirator’s Billings hotel room found nearly 3 pounds of meth, the release said. Investigators concluded the load had originally been 8 pounds, and that Best and co-defendant Stephanie Marie Nava, 38, coordinated its redistribution while both were in Mexico. Messages sent from a Facebook account the two used included “Are you ready for another pound yet?” prosecutors said. Nava was sentenced in January 2026 to five years.
Best was on federal supervised release at the time. He had already served a sentence of more than 13 years for a 2012 meth conviction. After he fled the country, the DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service, working with Mexican authorities, caught him in Mexico and brought him back, the office said. It did not say where in Mexico or when.
The DEA, the Eastern Montana HIDTA task force and Billings police investigated the case under the federal Homeland Security Task Force initiative.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana: Billings man captured in Mexico sentenced to 14 years for trafficking large quantities of narcotics (Sept. 25, 2026)
- Photos: Sara goth via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0); Chevsapher via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
Reported Sept. 25, 2026, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office release. The volumes attributed to Best come from a police source as described in the government’s filings; he pleaded guilty to a single possession-with-intent count. The release did not identify the Mexico-based group or tie it to any named cartel.