Barrett Prody
FARGO (KFGO) – A former Fargo and Moorhead bar owner has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
Barrett Prody, 52, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, pleaded guilty to leading a cocaine distribution ring for almost four years.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says he made hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal drug profits which he moved through what he appeared to be legitimate business accounts. Prody used drug money to pay for a condominium in Fort Lauderdale and an apartment in Columbia.
Prody appeared in U.S. District Court on Monday and was sentenced by Chief Judge Peter Welte to serve 190 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for the offenses of continuing criminal enterprise, money laundering conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Prody was also ordered to pay a $300 special assessment fee.
In total, Prody’s organization distributed as much as 25 kilograms of cocaine. At one time, Prody owned JT Cigarro’s in Fargo and O’Leary’s Pub in Moorhead.
“Barrett Prody pushed a substantial amount of cocaine into Fargo and Moorhead, with little concern for the lives impacted and families destroyed by this poisonous product,” Drug Enforcement Administration Omaha Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Rafael Mattei said. “Traffickers like Prody see only personal gain, not individual human lives or the life-altering consequences that can come from drug use.”
“Barrett Prody’s greed fueled a yearslong cocaine enterprise that profited off addiction and human suffering,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Kopp.
The case is part of Operation Winter Weather, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation targeting cocaine trafficking in North Dakota. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Internal Revenue Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Cass County Drug Task Force.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kopp and Christopher Myers.
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