Alan Sorensen Havre Daily News hdn@havredailynews.com
A Havre man arrested ondrug charges last fall pleaded guilty last week to drug trafficking and firearms charges in federal court Great Falls, the U.S. Attorneys Office said Friday. Victor Aaron King, 43, of Havre pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and the use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. Sentencing is set for June 21. He is currently detained. The government charged that between May of 2005 and September of 2006, King received and sold methamphetamine to people and confidential informants in and around Havre. In an announcement Friday, U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Bill Mercer said a confidential informant arranged to buy one ounce of meth from King in the parking lot at Northern Montana Hospital on Sept. 13, 2006. An agent with the Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force watched King’s house that day, Mercer said, and saw King drive away in his blue Chevy Suburban. Mercer said that task force officers stopped King’s vehicle at the hospital and executed a search warrant on his vehicle. The agents recovered one ounce of methamphetamine and five firearms a Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun, Thompson Center Arms encore 220 swift rifle with Leupold scope, Ruger Red Hawk .44 magnum revolver, Springfield Armory USA model KD-40 .40 caliber pistol and Glock model 31 .357 Sig from the vehicle, Mercer said. Mercer said King was questioned by law enforcement officers on Sept. 13 and 14, 2006, and admitted his involvement in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in the Havre area from the summer of 2005 to Sept. 13, 2006. King also admitted receiving and distributing meth to people and confidential informants throughout the period, Mercer said. King faces a mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $4 million fine and five years of supervised release. In addition, Mercer said, King faces an additional mandatory five years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, for the use or possession of a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna S. Peckham acted as prosecutor. The investigation was conducted by the Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force.
