MARQUETTE – A two-year investigation by the Gogebic-Iron Area Narcotics Team and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has resulted in the dismantling of a major criminal drug trafficking operation in the Upper Peninsula.

Officials are saying the conviction of Richard Jon Hill, 39, known in the Ironwood area as “Rock Star Rick,” will have a big impact on the region. Hill was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his conviction on federal drug charges.

Hill’s sentence represents the culmination of a two-year investigation by GIANT and the DEA. The joint investigation led to several federal convictions.

Matt Sterbenz, an officer at Ironwood Public Safety, said Hill saw an opportunity to feed people with addiction, his own addiction and to make some money.

“With shutting him down, it had a big impact on the entire U.P., in particular the western U.P.,” Sterbenz said.

Hill, a 1994 graduate of Lutheran L. Wright High School in Ironwood, moved to Las Vegas in about 2000 and became a heavy methamphetamine user, according to a press release distributed at a press conference held this morning. He returned to Ironwood in 2012, but maintained his connections in Las Vegas. Soon he was traveling back to Las Vegas to pick up drugs that he would sell in Ironwood.

To minimize the risk of traveling with large amounts of methamphetamine, he enlisted friends and associates to receive packages that he had shipped from Las Vegas, according to police. Hill would collect these packages, use some of the methamphetamine himself, and sell the rest to finance his next trip to Las Vegas, the release said.

This became a lucrative cycle driven by Hill and his friends and associates that helped spread a methamphetamine epidemic across the western U.P.

By the fall of 2013, GIANT – a multi-agency task force fighting drug trafficking in the western part of the U.P. and the Hurley, Wisconsin, area – had identified Hill as a significant supplier of methamphetamine. Officers assigned to GIANT arranged for several undercover purchases of methamphetamine from Hill. These undercover buys gave the officers the evidence they needed to get a search warrant for the residence Hill shared with Rebecca Jean Suzik. There, GIANT officers found more than 400 grams of crystal methamphetamine that was 99.9 percent pure, and more than $20,000 in cash, the release said.

Methamphetamine is commonly sold on the street in quarter- and half-gram quantities, so the amount seized from Hill and Suzik’s residence alone represented more than 1,000 units and had an estimated street value of $40,000. As a whole, the conspiracy involved at least $200,000 worth of methamphetamine.

Maarteen Vermaat, assistant U.S. attorney for Western District of Michigan, said this was among the largest drug busts in U.P. history.

“This case is the biggest crystal meth seizure in the UP,” he said.

GIANT officers then partnered with DEA agents in Marquette to investigate and pursue appropriate charges against the people working with Hill. An extensive investigation of travel records, text messages and shipping records led to the identification of several co-conspirators in the U.P. and Hurley, as well as Hill’s source in Las Vegas. A series of federal charges followed over the next year and a half.

The following individuals were convicted of drug trafficking charges and sentenced in federal court in Marquette:

• Richard Jon Hill, aka “Rock Star Rick,” 39, sentenced to 180 months in federal prison

• Joshua Aaron Anderson, 32, of Ironwood, sentenced to 151 months in federal prison

• David Anthony Tristan, 46, of Bullhead, Arizona, sentenced to 87 months in federal prison

• Anthony Peter Giovanoni, 37, of Hurley, sentenced to 120 months in federal prison

• Vickie Marie Sporleder, 48, of Rockland, sentenced to 63 months in federal prison

• Jack Michael Ribich, 33, of Ironwood, sentenced to 97 months in federal prison

• Rebecca Jean Suzik, 39, of Ironwood, sentenced to 24 months in federal prison

“This dismantling of a destructive drug trafficking operation and the significant convictions and sentences are a credit to the joint law enforcement operation undertaken by GIANT and the DEA. Richard Hill and his co-conspirators preyed on the citizens of the U.P. Methamphetamine is highly addictive, and drug addiction not only ravages the addict but tears at the fabric of family and communities,” U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Miles Jr. said. “Trips to Las Vegas and a catchy nickname sound glamorous and he will now have to answer to the number the Bureau of Prisons assigns to him.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph P. Reagan, who is responsible for DEA operations in all of Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, said: “Methamphetamine is a major threat to communities across the nation, and northern Michigan is no exception. Meth use and addiction is a threat to every community, and the dismantling of this drug distribution conspiracy is a victory for the safely and well-being of the people of the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin. This investigation was successful thanks to solid police work and strong cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement.”

GIANT is made up of police officers and sheriff’s deputies from the Ironwood Department of Public Safety, the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office, the Hurley (Wisconsin) Police Department and the Iron County (Wisconsin) Sheriff’s Office.

Chris Colassaco, the head of GIANT and a sergeant with the Hurley Police Department, said addiction is a problem that affects all cities, towns, villages and townships.

“Addiction is a community problem. Addiction not only destroys homes, breaks up families, and ruins lives, it also lowers property values, increases crime rates and makes communities less desirable places to raise families.

“The battle to control addiction requires involvement from federal, state and local government, community leaders and residents. We encourage residents to get involved and help save your community from the perils of addiction. Contact your local law enforcement agency with any information no matter how insignificant you feel it may be; it could be the information that makes a difference,” Colassaco said.

“With that being said, we would like to thank the residents of Gogebic County and also Iron County in Wisconsin for their assistance in the case. We would also like to thank all law enforcement, including the officers assigned to the GIANT team, for their dedication and extraordinary effort in the battle against addiction.”

Kelsie Thompson can be contacted at 906-228-2500, ext. 206.