From the courts: District Court

Man gets probation for selling meth

A Box Elder man received three years probation Monday in District Court for selling methamphetamine to a law enforcement informant.

Mark A. Sutherland, born in 1988, received a three-year deferred imposition of sentence for the felony offense of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. The sentence was part of a plea deal and Sutherland can have the offense struck from his record if he abides by its conditions.

An informant called a Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force agent May 21, 2014, to report he had been offered a gram of methamphetamine for $50.

Agents then gave the informant $100 for a controlled buy.

The informant said when he first went to the residence to buy meth, he met a different man. The man said he’d have to go with his “homies” and get the meth.

The informant said when he came back Sutherland was in the driveway, waiting. Sutherland took the informant’s money and gave them two bindles of meth.

Man gets 5 years for violating parole and dealing meth

A drug dealer was sentenced Monday in District Court to five years with the Department of Corrections and five more on probation for his role in methamphetamine distribution in the Hill County area.

Mark W. Loney of Chinook, born in 1959, received five years for felony criminal possession with intent to distribute and five years suspended for felony use of property subject to criminal forfeiture. The sentences was part of a plea deal that dismissed a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia and be served at the same time.

District Judge Daniel Boucher said the reasons for this sentence are that Loney “has demonstrated an inability or lack of sufficient desire to deal with these issues on his own, the public is entitled to protection, and this provides the services he has requested.”

An informant called the Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force July 3 to report that Loney had sold them methamphetamine. The informant told the Task Force agent the transaction happened at Loney’s residence, where more drugs were present.

Since Loney was on probation, his probation officer authorized a compliance check.

Task Force agents and Probation and Parole officers went to Loney’s residence, where they immediately found a glass bong “commonly used for consuming illegal drugs in plain sight in the living room,” a court document said.

Loney was arrested for violating parole.

Other items found by the officers, once a warrant had been granted, included a meth glass pipe, two more glass pipes, seven paper bindles of meth adding up to about 4.7 grams, another glass pipe in Loney’s bedroom, and a small mirror and razor blade “consistent with the preparation of methamphetamine,” a court charging document said.

Officers also found pieces of paper with names, addresses and phone numbers, as well as three cellphones, which they believed were used in drug distribution.

Havre woman gets probation after dropping meth in gas station

A Havre woman received three years probation Monday in District Court after she dropped a baggie of meth during a trip to the gas station.

Keri Lynn Brown, born in 1968, received a three-year deferred imposition of sentence for the felony offense of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. The sentence is part of a plea deal and if Brown abides by its conditions she can have the offense erased from her record.

A First Street gas station employee reported March 1 to police that they had found a bag with meth on the floor inside the business. The employee showed the responding officer store video in which a woman buys something and on her way out the bag falls out as she puts something else in her pocket.

The officer identified the woman in the video as Brown. He later tested the substance and it was identified as meth.

During an interview at the police station the next day, Brown admitted she was at that gas station the night the meth was found. Brown, however, denied the meth was hers, “but did state the bindle could have been an old one that was in her jacket.”

The officer arrested Brown.