BILLINGS – A Billings man who was part of a large-scale drug ring operating out of Mexico that trafficked significant amounts of methamphetamine into Montana was sentenced today to 14 years and two months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Joshua Jacob Best, 41, pleaded guilty in May 2026 to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.
The government alleged in court documents that a drug smuggling ring run out of Mexico and operating in Wyoming, South Dakota, California, and Montana, had operators in Billings. Billings police learned through an informant in June 2023 that Raymond Best (Joshua Best’s brother) was bringing “pounds of meth” and other drugs into Billings. Over the course of the next several months, investigators learned Joshua Best was helping move cash and drugs between Mexico and Billings. During a DEA undercover operation in October 2023, Joshua Best arranged to deliver $67,000 to a co-conspirator (actually an undercover agent) in the Walmart parking lot, on the premise he would then transport the money to their supplier in the Los Angeles area. Best showed up and made the drop in a black Chevy Camaro.
In January 2024, DEA learned that Joshua Best had rented a car and arranged for a courier to drive it from Des Moines, Iowa, to Billings. DEA tipped off law enforcement, who pulled the car over after it had left Des Moines. They discovered 57 pounds of methamphetamine, approximately 1 kilogram of cocaine, and approximately 2 pounds of marijuana. Joshua Best was the contact to pick up the drugs once they reached Billings.
Joshua Best crashed a black Chevy Camaro on Monad Road in March 2024. He ran from the scene, dropping two heat-sealed bags as he fled. With a warrant, officers searched the Camaro and found a vacuum sealed bag containing roughly a pound of methamphetamine on the driver’s side floor. Also in the car were numerous documents belonging to Joshua Best even though he was not the car’s registered owner.
Best was eventually apprehended in Mexico after fleeing the country. Working closely with Mexican authorities, the DEA and U.S. Marshals Service captured Best and brought him back to the U.S. to face prosecution. “DEA and its partners worked relentlessly to ensure our region now has one less drug trafficker putting poison into our communities,” said Mark Putnam, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division Special Agent in Charge. “We appreciate the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana, for prosecuting this case.”
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Montana comprises agents and officers from a number of federal agencies as well as drug task forces throughout the state, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The Billings Police Department, DEA, and Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force conducted the investigation as part of the HSTF.