Grover Beach woman pleads guilty to role in meth ring at Bakken oil fields

A Grover Beach woman pleaded guilty last week to her involvement in a yearlong meth-trafficking ring that supplied the drug to the Bakken oil fields in Montana and North Dakota.

Claudia Norman, 57, of Grover Beach entered her plea in U.S. District Court in Billings, Montana, The Billings Gazette reported, admitting she was a source of meth for Keith Coffin, 32, of Santa Maria, and Timothy Swope , 53, of Sidney, Montana, both of whom planned to sell the drugs in the area from around December 2015 to December 2016, prosecutors said. Coffin was sentenced to 10 years in prison in September and Swope to 13 in December.

According to the report, prosecutors said Coffin and Swope paid a separate person in Sidney more than $11,000 to buy 3.5 pounds of meth from Norman in California. Coffin, Swope and others would then resell the meth in the Bakken area.

The minimum mandatory sentence for Norman is 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine. She is expected to be sentenced at a later date.

This story was originally published January 16, 2018 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Grover Beach woman pleads guilty to role in meth ring at Bakken oil fields."