RAPID CITY, S.D. — A man authorities say played a major role in distributing methamphetamine and fentanyl across western South Dakota has been sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison.
According to prosecutors, between 2019 and 2024, Zachariah Highelk traveled to Colorado and Washington to obtain large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl before returning to Rapid City to distribute the drugs throughout the community and onto tribal lands.
Authorities say he was responsible for distributing multiple pounds of methamphetamine and thousands of fentanyl pills across the region.
“This was an incredible takedown by South Dakota and federal law enforcement that we believe put a substantial dent in the drug trade,” said U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons. “For any methamphetamine or fentanyl ingested in western South Dakota over the past several years, there is a decent chance it passed through this drug dealer’s hands at some point. He will spend the next fifteen years reflecting on that from a federal prison cell.”
A federal grand jury indicted Highelk in February 2025 on charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty in December 2025.
The sentencing comes as drug-related arrests continue to rise in Pennington County. According to the sheriff’s office annual report, there were 1,248 drug possession arrests in 2025, up from 1,149 in 2024 and 1,032 in 2023. A decade earlier, in 2015, the county reported 955 such arrests.
Methamphetamine remained the most commonly involved substance in each of those years.
