A Missoula resident has received a prison sentence for her involvement in trafficking significant quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine. Taylor Gale Penny, aged 35, was sentenced to 96 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. She pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances in December 2024.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen presided over the sentencing. According to court documents, Penny, along with a co-defendant, was involved in the distribution of these drugs between November 2023 and her arrest in September 2024. Searches conducted by law enforcement found more than 1,000 fentanyl pills and 1.5 ounces of methamphetamine. It was estimated that Penny and her co-defendant were trafficking more than 100,000 fentanyl pills and several pounds of methamphetamine, making them the largest dealers in the Missoula region.
Penny admitted to law enforcement that she began dealing fentanyl in January 2024 to sustain her own drug habit. By March 2024, her distribution had reached approximately 5,000 fentanyl pills per week within the Missoula area. In total, Penny confessed to distributing over 120,000 pills in the nine months before her arrest. A confidential source corroborated this, confirming Penny's distribution of around 120,000 pills and six ounces of fentanyl powder over a six-month period.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with the investigation led by the FBI’s Montana Regional Violent Crime Task Force. This prosecution is a part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program, which aims to reduce violent crime and gun violence through collaborative efforts among all levels of law enforcement and community organizations. The program emphasizes fostering community trust, supporting violence prevention organizations, setting strategic enforcement priorities, and evaluating the effectiveness of these efforts. Additional details on Project Safe Neighborhoods are available at Justice.gov/PSN.