Federal prosecutors have their first guilty plea in a multi-state drug trafficking ring involving at least 20 people, including a Coeur d’Alene gastroenterologist, his wife and her children.

Geena Lauren Milho, 25, of Williston, North Dakota, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to distribute heroin, oxycodone and methamphetamine. Milho and 10 others were indicted by a federal grand Jury in Coeur d’Alene on April 19.

In a plea agreement, Milho admitted she was part of the trafficking organization that prosecutors allege was headed by Loren Michelle Toelle, wife of Stanley Alvin Toelle, a gastroenterologist who worked at Kootenai Health and is charged in the case with conspiracy to launder money.

The organization transported drugs from Nevada and California to Idaho, Washington, Montana and North Dakota from 2009 until early this year, according to federal indictments. Milho became a member of the operation at least by 2015 and helped transport, conceal and sell heroin, meth and oxycodone, as well as transport profits from drug sales via wire transfers, prepaid card accounts and FedEx shipments, according to her plea of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.

“During the course of her involvement in the conspiracy, it was reasonably foreseeable to the defendant that the Toelle (drug trafficking organization) distributed 600 30-milligram oxycodone pills and at least 450 grams of heroin and 250 grams of a mixture of methamphetamine,” the plea states.

Milho, who is in jail in Bonner County, could receive up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $1 million fine when she is sentenced Jan. 18, 2017. She also agreed to forfeit any interest she has in real property, jewelry or cash held by herself or coconspirators and outlined in the indictment/Scott Maben, SR. More here.

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