Simpson: deferred sentence, pay $10,000 on pot charges

A former Montana State University-Northern star athlete and later recruiter will spend four years on probation, pay more than $10,000 in fines and fees and have a chance to clear his record of charges two pounds of marijuana were mailed to him from California.

Joe C. Simpson II, born in 1990, pleaded no contest in July to charges filed against him after U.S. Postal Service employees reported the package had been mailed to him. The package had been damaged in shipping.

The employees reported Simpson had received five similar packages from California in the previous weeks.

Law enforcement officers serving a search warrant on his Havre residence found a handgun, large amounts of cash, drug paraphernalia and a small amount of marijuana.

Simpson played basketball for Northern, including competing in two national tournaments, and was working for the university at the time of the offense.

Monday in state District Court in Havre, District Judge Dan Boucher imposed a four-year deferred imposition of sentences on Simpson for eacb of charges of attempted possession of drugs and for possession of property subject to forfeiture - more than $13,000 in cash and a 9 mm Taurus handgun - and six months deferred imposition of sentences for each of misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. All sentences are to run at the same time.

Boucher imposed fines and fees, including drug storage fees, of $10,127.50 for the four offenses.

Simpson's attorney, Lindsay Lorang, argued that the $8,706.25 drug storage fine on the first felony should not apply because her client never actually intercepted the drugs.

Hill County Attorney Gina Dahl responded, including that Simpson had agreed in the plea agreement to pay the fine.

Boucher noted that the law does not require conviction, only that the contraband be stored, and that the offense alone allows the fee be imposed.

He said the sentence is appropriate because it is Simpson's first felony conviction - and first conviction of any sort - and is a nonviolent crime and that Simpson should have the opportunity to clear his record. He added that the sentence has serious consequences if Simpson fails to abide by all conditions of his release.

If Simpson abides by all conditions of his release during the probationary period, he may petition to have the felonies struck from his record.

His roommates, Daniel Mack and Daniel Agostino, who each refused to sign for the package on two separate attempts to deliver it, were not charged with felony criminal offenses in district court in Havre, but along with Simpson forfeited cash and the Taurus handgun to the Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force, which conducted the investigation.