A Rapid City man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, which resulted in a death. Curtis Cummings, aged 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier. His sentence includes five years of supervised release, restitution, and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Cummings was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2023 and found guilty after a three-day jury trial on November 7, 2024. The conviction stems from an operation distributing fentanyl in Rapid City, South Dakota. Cummings and his wife, Katey McGruder, were obtaining large quantities of fentanyl from Colorado weekly. They transported the drugs back to their home for further distribution by Christina Sanchez and others involved.
On April 26, 2022, Cummings and McGruder supplied fentanyl to Sanchez, who then passed it on to Wyatt Nygaard. Nygaard provided the drug to a victim who overdosed and died shortly thereafter in a convenience store parking lot.
The case was investigated by the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team (UNET), which includes personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies such as the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office and Rapid City Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan Dilges and Edward Tarbay prosecuted the case. Nygaard received over 23 years of federal imprisonment earlier. Both McGruder and Sanchez were sentenced previously to 20 years each in federal prison.
Following his sentencing, Cummings was immediately taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.