Chicago woman receives 10-year sentence for oxycodone trafficking

A federal judge in Montana sentenced Chicago resident Sadiyyah M. Eason to 10 years in prison on May 13, 2026 for trafficking oxycodone, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Eason, 40, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. Court records show she supplied 4,486 oxycodone pills that were sold in Montana. The sentence includes three years of supervised release following imprisonment and requires forfeiture of assets tied to the trafficking.

The case originated from an investigation by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and the federal Bureau of Land Management. Eason traveled from Illinois to deliver the pills, which carried a street value exceeding $100,000 in the Billings area.

The sentencing shifts Eason from pretrial release to immediate federal custody at a yet-to-be-designated Bureau of Prisons facility. The three-year supervised release term begins upon her release from prison and will be monitored by the U.S. Probation Office in the District of Montana.

Forfeiture proceedings will conclude within 60 days under standard federal timelines, removing vehicles, cash and electronic devices linked to the distribution network.

Downstream, the conviction requires the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana to report the case outcome to the national opioid enforcement tracking system maintained by the Justice Department. The forfeiture funds will be deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund, which supports future interdiction operations.

Montana state authorities must now decide whether to pursue parallel charges against any local co-conspirators identified during the investigation. The case also updates the defendant’s criminal history in the national NCIC database, affecting any future background checks or sentencing calculations in other jurisdictions.

This marks the latest federal opioid trafficking sentence secured by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana. The office has pursued similar cross-border pill cases since 2022, when oxycodone shipments from Chicago and Detroit first appeared in rural Montana counties.

The underlying statute, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), carries a mandatory minimum of five years for quantities exceeding 400 pills when no death or serious injury results.

Primary sources: U.S. Department of Justice