Fargo man pleads guilty to federal drug and firearm charges

Acting U.S. Attorney Lynn Jordheim announced that on Aug. 4, Jesse Ryan Walters of Fargo, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Ralph R. Erickson to federal drug and firearm charges.

Walters, 26, was charged along with 26 other defendants in “Operation Budapest,” an investigation that uncovered a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy that spanned from California and Nebraska to Minnesota and North Dakota. The conspiracy occurred from January 2008 through March 2010, authorities said.

Walters pleaded guilty to selling in excess of 500 grams of a mixture of methamphetamine as part of the conspiracy. Walters admitted that some of the methamphetamine he sold resulted in an overdose death in Bismarck in August 2009. Walters also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and felon in possession of a firearm.

Walters is facing a sentence of life imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and numerous state and local law enforcement agencies.

Sentencing for Walters has been scheduled for Oct. 15 in U.S. District

Court in Fargo.

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