From the courts: District Court

A state district judge sentenced a man who was caught stealing frozen meat and jewelry from someone’s home to seven years probation.

Carmello Valenzuela received a seven-year suspended sentence for felony burglary Monday in District Court in Havre. Valenzuela’s sentence is part of a plea deal that dismissed misdemeanor charges of theft and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.

A man called the Hill County Sheriff’s Office Aug. 8 to report he found someone, later identified as Valenzuela, rummaging in his house. Two deputies responded.

On their way to the scene, dispatch told deputies that Valenzuela, who was sitting outside in a vehicle “was acting as if he was under the influence of something,” court charging documents say.

While waiting for deputies, one of the men in the home watched Valenzuela crush what appeared to be pills and then snort the powder.

After responding, one of the deputies noticed Valenzuela seemed to be under the influence of something mind-altering because his speech was slow and slurred and his pupils dilated.

The man said Valenzuela had taken frozen meat, a pair of pear earrings and a bracelet, valued at less than $1,500 from the home.

Deputies called an agent with the Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force, who applied for and was granted a search warrant of the vehicle. Once seized, the vehicle was searched. Inside was found a glass methamphetamine pipe, snort tubes, a marijuana roach inside a Marlboro cigarette box, a digital scale and a marijuana pipe.