The two men sleeping in a car on a November morning outside a rural gas station near Wall Lake were out of place. So much so that a Minnehaha County sheriff’s deputy took note.
The deputy’s inquiry on Nov. 14, 2024, resulted in the arrests of Michael Terveen and Sean Blanchfill. It was the start of an investigation that led to the dismantling of a drug ring with ties to Mexican cartels – a drug ring responsible for shipping hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl into Sioux Falls and South Dakota.
It became known as the Matthew Shade Drug Trafficking Organization – named after Shade, 49, a Tea resident at the center of the drug ring. Shade was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison earlier this year for his role in the enterprise.
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