From the courts: District Court

Box Elder man sentenced for having liquid form meth

A Box Elder man who was found with a liquid form of methamphetamine received three years probation Monday in District Court in Havre.

Marvin Cure, born in 1997, received three years, all suspended, for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs with credit for four days previously served. Cure’s sentence was part of a plea deal.

A deputy went to Cure’s home Jan. 4, 2016, to investigate a theft. Cure had warrants through Havre City Court for theft, with a $1,083 bond, and for no insurance, with a $385 bond. The deputy told Cure about the warrants and arrested him.

The deputy search patted Cure and found a brown dropper bottle containing a green liquid and a small file in his pocket. The liquid substance was sent to the Montana State Crime lab, where it tested positive for methamphetamine.

Woman gets probation for intended meth distribution

A Harlem woman who was found with meth she intended to sell received three years probation Monday in District Court in Havre.

Michelle Snell, born in 1981, received a three year deferred-imposition of sentence for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs. District Judge Daniel Boucher dismissed a misdemeanor criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. If Snell abides by the conditions of the sentence, she will have the offense voided off her record.

A Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force agent received information Aug. 1, 2016, that Snell and one other person, Dean Kermit Snow, would be traveling from the Fort Belknap Reservation to Great Falls to pick up a load of methamphetamine.

The Task Force agent, in conjunction with Bureau of Indian Affairs agents, planned to intercept Snell and her partner on their way back to Fort Belknap. The agent also notified and provided information about the car Snell would be traveling to Havre Police Department, Hill County Sheriff’s Department and Montana Highway Patrol.

A deputy stopped the vehicle on U.S. Highway 87 for going 71 miles per hour in a 65 zone. The agents, who had been following the car, continued past and called a U.S. Border Patrol agent with a drug-sniffing K-9 dog.

Snell and Snow had arrest warrants and were arrested.

A third person, the driver of the car, told the Task Force agent he didn’t see Snell or Snow put drugs in the car, but he did say they may have picked up meth at some point, maybe near Walmart. He said they had been in Great Falls for the Montana State Fair.

The driver consented to let a K-9 inspect the vehicle. The dog alerted officers to the middle back seat, where Snell had been sitting. Two bags had been found, one which had meth. A makeup container with two blue pills were also found in the front passenger area. The pills were not identified. Two plastic baggies with “distribution amount” of meth were found in the glove compartment. Agents found a marijuana pipe in the rear seat area and a plastic baggie with marijuana that was found on the pavement near the rear of the car.

Agents believed the meth in the glove compartment belonged to Snow and turned that portion of the investigation over to BIA for a federal investigation.