Definitely a once in a lifetime experience.
That’s how Moody County Sheriff Troy Wellman describes his trip to Washington D.C. this past week and the invitation to attend the State of the Union (SOTU) speech as a guest of South Dakota’s lone U.S. Representative, Dusty Johnson.
Wellman said that he and Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller were on Johnson’s schedule for a visit on Tuesday. The three have been in conversations for some time about the fentanyl crisis and the need to secure the southern border.

Once Johnson’s staff realized the two Sheriffs would be in Washington around the time of the SOTU, they extended the invitation to Wellman and Mueller and secured the extra seats through another Representative.
Sheriff Wellman was in Washington DC on behalf of the National Sheriff’s Association, a group that represents 3,088 agencies across the nation. Wellman currently serves as 3rd Vice President for the Association. If he is still Sheriff in Moody County in June of 2026, he will move into the President’s role. Trip expenses were paid for through a combination of county and personal funding.  Wellman said it was truly and honor and humbling to be asked to attend.
But back to the reason both Sheriffs were in Washington to begin with, “As the Sheriff of Moody County, I am hoping there is a conversation and an explained plan on how to secure the border. It is not a political issue; it is 100% a national health and safety issue. It needs to not only be addressed but fixed.”
Mueller added in a press release that methamphetamine is still the number one driver of violent crime in South Dakota and fentanyl overdoses continue to rise. “These drugs flow freely across our open southern border and into communities near you and me.” He looked to hear President Biden take an aggressive stance and outline a plan to secure the southern border, stating that the need for that is immediate in order to keep our citizens and communities safe.