DENVER – Attorney General John Suthers announced today that La Plata County District Court Judge David L. Dickinson issued a 12-page written order yesterday sentencing Defendant Jay Dee Russell to the Department of Corrections for 96 years as a habitual criminal on multiple felony convictions including violations of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft, Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance (Schedule II- Methamphetamine) and Tampering with a witness.
These convictions are the result of a 2006 State Grand Jury indictment involving a motor vehicle theft and methamphetamine distribution ring based in the Durango area. This investigation, dubbed “Operation Four Corners,” was a cooperative effort of the Colorado State Patrol, the Sixth Judicial District District Attorney’s Office and the Colorado Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Unit. Russell was convicted after a two week trial last November prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Janet Drake of the Special Prosecution Unit in the Office of the Attorney General.
In response to this sentence, Colorado Attorney General John W. Suthers said: “Methamphetamine is a blight upon our communities and will not be tolerated in Colorado. This sentence sends a powerful message to those who might consider challenging our resolve in these cases.”