Six charged with meth crimes

Five people in Hill County are accused of selling methamphetamine — one near a school and one allegedly dropped a bag containing meth in front of an officer while paying for his groceries.

The following public record cases chronicle these incidents, which allegedly happened within a 3-year span. Lt. Aaron Witmer, who works in conjunction with the Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force, said through a representative that the cases are not related and, as far as timing, the county attorney decides when to press charges.

According to charging documents:

May 2013

An informant notified a task force agent that they had been texting and Facebook messaging Daniel Friede Jr. about buying meth.

Two task force agents met with the informant to search them and give them $200 to buy two grams of meth. The sting purchase between the informant and Friede was set up at Jitterbugs in Box Elder.

After meeting the informant at Jitterbugs, charging files say Friede told the informant that he sold all the meth he had and asked the informant to meet him at his house from where Friede could get more meth to sell.

The informant went to Friede’s house, which was 1,000 feet away from Box Elder School. Friede got in to the informant's car and showed him a bindle that the informant said contained 2 grams of meth. The informant bought the meth with the controlled cash.

After a field test, the substance was verified to be meth, but it was .8 grams, not 2 like Friede said.

Friede allegedly sold the informant more meth a week later; this time two bindles of it.

Based on these documented sales, Friede was charged Thursday with two counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs on or near school property, a felony.

April 2014

An informant called a task force agent and said a man named “DJ,” “who drives a brown Camaro”, allegedly had meth for sale.

DJ, who was later identified as Dustin James Welch, sent the informant a text message that said he charged $50 for half a gram of meth and to meet him for the sale.

The informant met with agents to be searched and get $100 for the sting purchase.

The charging document says that Welch, “a young man in his teens or early 20s,” met the informant at Welch’s cousin’s house.

From there, the informant drove Welch around the block and it was during this time that the informant allegedly bought meth for $50.

Welch is charged with criminal distribution of dangerous drugs, a felony.

May 2014

An informant called a task force agent to tell him that he had a conversation with someone about buying half a gram of meth, documents say.

Two agents met with the informant to search him and give him $100 for a sting meth purchase.

The informant bought two paper bindles of meth from Mark Sutherland at Sutherland’s house.

Sutherland is charged with criminal distribution of dangerous drugs, a felony.

November 2014

A Rocky Boy officer was waiting in line to pay at Jitterbugs when Gerold Parker, who was in front of him, dropped a small plastic bag out of his pocket as he dug in his pockets for money.

The officer picked up the bag. Parker told the officer the bag was not his, paid for his items and left the store. A woman was in the store and verified that the bag fell out of Parker’s pocket.

The substance in the bag was field tested and verified as meth, documents say.

Parker is charged with criminal possession of dangerous drugs, a felony.

September 2015

An informant called a task force agent to tell him Aleisha The Boy allegedly offered to sell a gram of meth for $100.

Six days later, two agents met with the informant to search and give them $100 to buy meth.

Agents followed the informant to Oakwood Village Apartments, where the drug sale was scheduled to take place.

The informant parked the car and shortly after, the agents saw The Boy, who had a “small child” with her get into the informant’s car. Charging documents say The Boy gave the informant a plastic bag with two paper bindles of what was later identified, at the Montana State Crime lab, as meth.

The Boy allegedly sold more meth to the same informant the next day, that time only $50 worth.

The substance was confirmed as meth again.

The Boy is charged with two counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs, a felony. Her plea hearing is March 28.

January 2016

Hill County charging documents say that a U.S. Border Patrol intelligence agent notified a task force agent that Alejandro Romero was stopped by a Montana Highway Patrol deputy near Glendive. His pickup truck was seized by the Prairie County Sheriff’s office.

The pickup was broken into shortly after being seized. The documents say, “Small amounts of cocaine, heroine and a few pistol rounds were found outside the vehicle.” The document further says that Romero was believed to be the one who broke into the truck.

The border patrol intelligence told the task force agent that Romero and the woman who was with him were now on an Amtrak train that was on the way to Pasco, Washington amd would be going through Havre. The agent learned that Romero was on parole and probation in Washington. He spoke with Romero’s parole officer in Washington, told him where Romero was, and the parole officer completed a warrant for Romero’s arrest due to violations.

The next day the train arrived at the Amtrak Depot in Havre. The task force agent found Romero and the woman in car 2714, told Romero he had a warrant for his arrest and cuffed him.

Files say the agent found $9,884 in cash when he searched Romero. When the unemployed Romero was asked where he got so much money, he said some was wired to him, some he had won.

Romero was taken to Hill County Detention Center, and the woman he was with was asked about the three bags the couple had with them. The woman told agents two of the three bags were hers and denied them consent to search the bags.

A K9 offier was brought in and alerted agents to all three bags. A warrant was then obtained, the bags were seized and the woman “returned to the train at that time and continued westbound to Pasco, Washington,” the document says.

The following was what was found in the three bags: 5.5 ounces of meth, 16 grams of suspected marijuana, a John Wayne pistol, a Walther 9mm pistol, a loaded Taurus .380, a Hi-Point 9mm, two digital scales, “jeweler-type” baggies, a 200-gram scale weight, 19 glass meth pipes and two marijuana pipes.

The documents say the agent noted that Romero is a South Side Sureno gang affiliate, has a history of prior convictions of misdemeanor marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession in 2009, as well as criminal possession of dangerous drugs with intent to sell — meth, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy — in 2007.

After a warranted search of Romero’s phone, the agent found information indicating that Romero made jail calls and sold meth in Idaho, Washington state, Montana and North Dakota.

The agent said “that the size of the methamphetamine shards seized was typically only seen in large scale distributions.” The money seized is believed to be money Romero made from selling drugs in eastern Montana.

Romero is in Hill County Detention Center, and if he isn’t extradited to Washington by Wednesday, he will appear in Hill County District Court.

Romero is charged with criminal distribution of dangerous drugs, a felony; carrying dangerous drugs on train, a felony; use or possession of property subject to criminal forfeiture, a felony; criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor; four counts of carrying firearms on train, a misdemeanor; and criminal possession of dangerous drugs — marijuana less than 60 grams, second offense, a felony. His bail is $40,000.