GREAT FALLS, Montana — Two men from Box Elder who trafficked large amounts of fentanyl on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation in north-central Montana have been sentenced to long federal prison terms this month, U.S. Attorney Scott Twito for the District of Montana said. Allen Nathan Parisian, 34, was sentenced on Monday, October 27, to 15 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, and Tanner Cole Parisian, 27, was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Montana
Both men had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances — Allen Nathan Parisian in June 2026 and Tanner Cole Parisian in May 2026 — the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided over both cases in federal court in Great Falls.
A family supply chain, prosecutors say
The government alleged in court documents that the men were part of a group trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation between 2023 and 2025. According to prosecutors, Allen Parisian, known as 'Little Al,' began receiving fentanyl pills from a source in 2020 to sell on the reservation. When Little Al was sent to prison in 2023, the supplier began to use his father, Leonard Parisian, known as 'Big Al,' to keep the supply moving, the Justice Department said.
Leonard Allen Parisian, 63, was himself sentenced in September 2026 to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty in May 2026 to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, according to an earlier Justice Department release. In that release, prosecutors said an informant told officers he had supplied fentanyl pills to Little Al starting in 2020, and later supplied Big Al, who purchased between 3,000 and 6,000 fentanyl pills at a time and regularly sent couriers out of state to pick up the fentanyl. In all, the informant estimated Big Al purchased between 15,000 and 20,000 fentanyl pills for redistribution in Montana — yaani fifteen to twenty thousand pills.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Montana (Leonard Parisian sentencing)
Released, then trafficking again — and a highway stop near Vaughn
Little Al was released from prison in 2024 and resumed fentanyl trafficking, working with Big Al to keep their supply of illicit drugs moving, prosecutors said. Law enforcement arrested Little Al in May 2024 when, during a traffic stop, investigators discovered fentanyl pills in his vehicle.
Tanner Parisian was one of the couriers Big Al used to bring illicit drugs onto the reservation from an out-of-state supplier, the Justice Department said. In July 2024, Montana Highway Patrol pulled over a truck near Vaughn; Tanner Parisian was riding in the back seat. Searching the truck, investigators found his backpack holding roughly two pounds of fentanyl in 10 baggies, a quarter pound of methamphetamine in five baggies, and $1,000 in cash. Investigators later learned he had been on a resupply run for Big Al — one of about seven such trips he had taken — when Montana Highway Patrol stopped the truck.
Background: why this reservation keeps appearing in federal court
Box Elder is the main community on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, home of the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Hill and Chouteau counties, not far from Havre and about 100 miles northeast of Great Falls. Federal prosecutors in Montana have brought a series of fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking cases tied to the reservation in recent years, and this case shows the pattern investigators describe: pills bought out of state in lots of thousands, moved by road couriers on Montana highways, and redistributed locally. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid, and even small quantities by weight can contain thousands of doses, which is why a two-pound backpack seizure matters.
For Punjabi and other long-haul truckers who run Montana corridors — Interstate 15 through Great Falls and Vaughn, and US Highway 2 along the Hi-Line near Havre and Box Elder — the case is also a highway story: the load that broke this ring open was not found in a house, but in a backpack during a Montana Highway Patrol traffic stop near Vaughn in July 2024. Drivers approached to carry sealed packages for cash on these routes face exactly the kind of federal exposure these sentences show.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey K. Starnes prosecuted the case. The FBI and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
What happens next
With guilty pleas already entered, both men's sentences are final judgments: Allen Nathan Parisian begins a 15-year federal prison term, followed by 10 years of supervised release, and Tanner Cole Parisian begins a 10-year term, followed by five years of supervised release. Their father Leonard's 10-year sentence, imposed in September, is already in effect. The Justice Department release announced the pair's sentences together this month and did not announce any further defendants in the ring.