Torres gets nearly five years for cocaine, meth

A Havre man will spend four-and-a-half years in federal prison for possessing large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine.

Christopher Pete Torres Jr., 37, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Great Falls last week to 54 months in prison for his previously entered guilty plea to a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

District Judge Dana Christensen also sentenced Torres to five years of supervised release following the prison sentence.

A Havre police officer pulled Torres over Feb. 4, 2012, for speeding, a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office about the sentencing said. When the officer approached the window of the pickup, Torres was smoking a cigarette and shaking nervously, the release said.

When the officer asked Torres, who would not make eye contact and spoke in a nervous tone, the release said, to step out of the pickup and wait for a drug-sniffing dog to arrive, he told the officer he had marijuana in the vehicle.

He also told the officer that he had a handgun and cocaine and two eight balls of methamphetamine in the vehicle, the release said.

The Drug Enforcement Agency laboratory analyzed the evidence and found the methamphetamine was 99 percent pure with a net weight of 9.6 grams of pure meth, with 13.2 grams of substance containing 4.2 grams of actual cocaine, the release said.