‘Bodyguard’ for accused drug dealer kills 18-year-old in botched Idaho robbery, feds say

A Washington man serving as an accused drug dealer’s “bodyguard” will serve 14 years in prison in an 18-year-old’s shooting death in Idaho, federal officials reported.

Dennen Trey George Fitterer-Usher, 24, shot the 18-year-old six times in a botched robbery in Coeur d’Alene in May 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Idaho said in a Dec. 21 news release.

A 20-year-old Spokane Valley man accused of dealing drugs, including fentanyl, began bringing Fitterer-Usher with him as an armed bodyguard in 2021, prosecutors said.

On May 31, 2021, the two met with two 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old in Coeur d’Alene to sell $300 in pills, federal officials said.

But the three men, who officials said were also armed, instead tried to steal the pills, prosecutors said. Fitterer-Usher shot Gabriel Casper, 18, and the three fled in a vehicle, according to prosecutors.

Several blocks away, his accomplices shoved Casper from the moving vehicle into the street, where he was later found dead, the release said.

The accused drug dealer pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He will be sentenced Feb. 6.

The two surviving accused robbers were tried in state court, the release said. One received probation and the other will serve four years in prison.

This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 11:30 AM with the headline "‘Bodyguard’ for accused drug dealer kills 18-year-old in botched Idaho robbery, feds say."