Drug Dealer Ordered To Pay For Prison Time

A Spokane cocaine dealer arrested in Operation Doughboy must serve 68 months in federal prison and pay half the cost of his imprisonment.

Gregory S. Brebner, 38, will pay the federal government $60,497 for the time he spends in prison, U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen ordered Tuesday.

Brebner pleaded guilty in January to eight counts of distribution of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute the drug.

He was among three dozen suspects arrested in Operation Doughboy, a lengthy investigation by the FBI and the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force.

Nielsen said that because of Brebner’s affluence, he should have to pay half the cost of his prison stay. Such fines are rarely imposed in federal court.

The judge allowed Brebner to remain free until he appeals his case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeal includes Brebner’s allegations that investigators engaged in “outrageous government conduct” in the way they paid an informant.

Brebner’s attorney, Jeffry Finer, also is challenging the racial makeup of the federal grand jury that brought the indictment.

Once released from prison, Brebner must complete six years of supervised release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice said that as part of a plea agreement, Brebner agreed to forfeit $5,719 in cash. The money was found at houses he owned at 13805 E. 17th and a home worth an estimated $400,000 on Casco Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The government did not move to seize Brebner’s Spokane Valley home because of a mortgage company’s foreclosure action.

In exchange for his guilty pleas, Brebner was allowed to buy the equity in his Lake Coeur d’Alene home by paying the government $130,000. Rice said that amount equalled Brebner’s equity in the property.