By all accounts, Brandon Ecoffey led a double life after he graduated from Dartmouth College and returned to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

By day, Ecoffey worked for the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce. He mentored and tutored reservation youth, taught classes and was assistant basketball coach at Red Cloud High School.

But by night, he ran with a crowd that was dealing cocaine and marijuana. He developed a gambling problem and a serious cocaine addiction, eventually distributing drugs himself.

Although U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier acknowledged that Ecoffey –- who comes from a prominent family -– has “huge potential” to be a positive influence on his community, she said Monday that the message he sent to young people by dealing drugs was anything but.

“These are kids that look at you and think … ‘I can be just like Brandon,’” she said before sentencing Ecoffey to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. “After you graduated from college, you were somebody that everybody looked up to.”

Ecoffey was one of almost 20 reservation residents indicted in connection with the conspiracy, which prosecutors say started in 2002 and continued until 2008. They say the group, led by Lawrence Vigil, distributed between 5 and 15 kilograms of cocaine on the reservation.

The day before he was to go to trial last June, Ecoffey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison; however, there is a “safety valve” that allows judges to drop below that in cases that meet five requirements.

In Ecoffey’s case, the first four were simple: he had no criminal history, there were no firearms involved in the crime, no one died and he was not a leader or organizer of the conspiracy.

The fifth requirement was tougher. It states that a defendant must truthfully provide the government with all information he has relevant to the offense.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mara Kohn said Ecoffey failed to meet the fifth requirement. She said he lied repeatedly to investigators, minimized his role in the operation, and neglected to mention that he had gotten Vigil a new drug supplier when his old connection stopped selling.

In fact, Kohn said, it wasn’t until a 12-hour evidentiary hearing earlier this month that Ecoffey disclosed some information, including the names of people to whom he sold drugs.

“I will admit it was almost like pulling teeth to get that information out of him,” Schreier agreed.

Schreier said it was a close call but that she believed Ecoffey provided adequate information to meet the legal standard required to forgo the mandatory minimum sentence. She also found that he eventually had accepted responsibility for his actions, though she said it was a “torturous process” getting to that point, because his story had changed over time.

As a result, advisory guidelines put Ecoffey in the sentencing range of 51 to 63 months in prison.

Numerous relatives, friends and acquaintances sent letters and spoke in court on Ecoffey’s behalf.

Defense attorney Joe Romero Jr. asked that Ecoffey be given a sentence of 41 months, comparable to co-defendants who cooperated with the government early on but were more involved in the conspiracy.

Ecoffey’s mother, Kathy Wilson, asked for leniency, saying that Brandon’s having to explain his felony conviction for the rest of his life would be punishment enough.

Spiritual leader Jerome LeBeau said Ecoffey has started sundancing and found a spiritual foundation from which to help his people.

“He would help us more in our community than if he’s in jail,” he said. “I think there’s no limits to what he can do.”

Ecoffey’s father, Robert Ecoffey, apologized for his son. In 35 years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement, he said he has helped put many people in prison. “I let my boy slide through.”

Ecoffey, who is the BIA Superintendent for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, thanked Kohn and FBI Agent Dan Cooper for “interceding and saving my boy’s life.” He said his son has grown a great deal over the past two years.

Kohn asked for a stiffer sentence. She recalled how Brandon Ecoffey said he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong by driving Vigil around while Vigil made drug deals. Of all people, she said, Brandon Ecoffey should have known better than to think that was okay.

“This is not a single mistake,” Kohn said. “He made six years of mistakes.”

Brandon Ecoffey also spoke, apologizing to the judge, his family and the community.

“It was my responsibility to do something right … (to) improve the lives of those that surround me,” he said, and he let those people down. “To my people, I promise that I’m going to make it up to them.”

Ecoffey was taken into custody after the hearing to begin serving his sentence.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or Heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com