Idaho couple sentenced in drug ring
An international drug ring that spanned three decades earned a North Idaho couple federal prison sentences last week.
John "Phil" Keyser, 67, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and his wife, Texanna M. Keyser, 67, was sentenced to three months in prison and seven months home detention after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The couple also will forfeit property they bought illegally, totaling about $875,000. U.S District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill sentenced the Keysers Friday.
Their son, Jerod Keyser, a Priest River mortgage broker, was sentenced to eight months in prison in March and eight month home detention for his role in the crime.
The Keysers, former owners of a Priest River diner, pleaded guilty last year in a scheme federal prosecutors say centered on a drug ring that imported drugs from Mexico and Southern California, shipped them to Portland, Ore., then distributed them across the country.
The ring helped distribute more than 100 tons of marijuana, investigators say.
The Keysers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money for hiding drug money in the purchase of the Village Kitchen restaurant and the Raptor View Estates in Priest River, as well as the purchase of the Mountain Meadow Estate in Pend Oreille County.
Texanna Keyser admonished drugs and said she was shocked by her son's arrest in a 2006 story you can read here. Read a story on the Keysers' guilty pleas here.