From the Courts: District Court

A Box Elder meth dealer received five years probation Monday in District Court for selling and being caught with methamphetamine and paraphernalia indicative of distribution on another occasion.

Rico Denny, born in 1997, received a three-year deferred imposition of sentence for the offense of felony criminal possession with intent to distribute, and a five-year suspended sentence with the Department of Corrections for the offense of felony criminal distribution of dangerous drugs. Both sentences are part of plea deals, and if Denny adheres to the conditions of the deferred imposition, he can have that offense struck off his record.

Court documents say an officer pulled into the parking lot of Havre’s McLean’s grocery May 30, 2015, after seeing a Chevrolet Avalanche he knew to be primarily driven by someone who had a warrant out for her arrest at the time.

The officer approached the vehicle and Denny was behind the wheel. He “appeared to be nervous and was sweating,” court documents say. The officer noticed a glass tube on the center console with what appeared to be meth residue inside it. The officer asked Denny about the pipe and he said he didn’t know it was there because he had borrowed the car to run errands. Denny gave the pipe to the officer and it was later tested and confirmed to contain meth residue.

Denny was arrested on warrants from Yellowstone County on charges of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and  criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.

When booking him at the jail, deputies found a baggie of meth on Denny.

A Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force agent obtained a warrant to search the vehicle Denny was in before being arrested. When searched the day after his arrest, the vehicle contained multiple baggies of meth, digital scales, “scooper” straws — used for transferring small quantities of drug into other bags or into pipes — six cellphones, and brass knuckles.

Denny was interviewed after the search. He admitted the meth that was found on him was his but the pipe on the center console belonged to the owner of the truck. He said a pipe found between the center console and the driver’s seat and the phones were his. Denny said that even though the meth was his, he hadn’t sold meth since 2002.

In a previous investigation, an informant contacted a Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force agent Nov. 21, 2013, to tell him that Denny offered to sell a gram of meth for $100, a document says.

The informant met with the Denny at a First Street business, from where the informant purchased the meth, the document says.