Woman admits lying to buy two firearms later used in a double homicide

GREAT FALLS — A woman admitted on Nov. 13 to lying on a form to buy two firearms that were later used in a double homicide in Box Elder, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said in a press release last Thursday.

The defendant, Airian Mariah Russette, 30, pleaded guilty to false statement during a firearms transaction. Russette faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The court set sentencing for March 19, 2025. Russette was released pending further proceedings.

Two men, Darren Wade Caplette and Thomas “T.R” Yallup, were shot and killed in shootings in Box Elder in the early morning hours after Russette purchased the firearms.

The U.S. Attonrey’s Office said it could neither confirm nor deny that those were the homicides referred to in the press release about Russette’s pleading guilty.

One of the men charged in Montana District Court in the shootings of Caplette and Yallup, Angelo Hawk Sanchez, pleaded guilty Oct. 7. And is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 7.

Another defendant, Angelo Castillo-Haffley, is scheduled for trial March 24.

Melody Rose Bernard, who operates the restaurant Ziah’s Place and the businesss High Society in Box Elder, and Ashley Jocelyn “Green Eyes” Cortez of California were charged in U.S. District Court with possessing with intent and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl.

Those cases still are pending, with a motion to continue filed by Bernard granted Oct. 11 and her filing a motion for. Hearings status of council Oct. 30.

After Ashley Cortez moved Nov. 7 to new counsel, the court appointed a new counsel for her NOv. 8.

The charging document alleges that Cortez was a connection Bernard had with a drug ring headed by a gang leader already serving a prison sentence in California. The document says Cortez and her brother Angel Castillo-Haffley, who is charged with the murders and scheduled for trial in March, both children of the imprisoned drug leader, Martin “Junior” Topete, were part of the distribution system that brought drugs to the area, including to Bernard.

The document also says both charged with the drug offenses are connected with the March 18 shootings of Caplette and Yallup, although neither is charged with that offense.

Angel Castillo-Haffley and Angelo Sanchez, both 18 at the time of the shooting, and a boy who was 16 at the time of the shooting were charged with deliberate homicide with the use of a firearm.

The three were identified through video footage from the bar where the shooting occurred at about 1:30 a.m. March 18. Their faces were obscured in the video from the bar but their clothing was visible, and Bernard identified the three in the video.

The vehicle used in the shooting belonged to Bernard, a court document said.

The three also were seen in another video entering and exiting Bernard’s residence the day before the shooting, March 27, and driving Bernard’s vehicle that was used in the shooting, the document said.

Law enforcement gathered information that the three were staying in a Havre hotel, and found the three — and Cortez — there. Clothing consistent with what the suspects in the shooting were wearing was found in the room.

The three were taken to the Hill County Sheriff’s Office, where they were interviewed by law enforcement. All three declined to speak with law enforcement.

Due to evidence collected at the scene and witness statements, the three were charged with deliberate homicide, a court document said.

A court document said law enforcement had started investigating Bernard since September 2023 after a witness said she was selling narcotics out of Ziah’s.

In November, another witness the document said is a known drug user on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation told law enforcement Bernard was selling fentanyl pills out of her pizza place.

Law enforcement interviewed other witnesses also said Bernard sold fentanyl and methamphetamine, both out of her businesses and out of her home.

March 11, the document said, law enforcement had a “confidential human source” conduct a controlled purchase of fentanyl from Bernard and another source on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

Another informant told law enforcement March 21 that Bernard was selling large amounts of meth and fentanyl out of her Box Elder residence and business. The informant said Bernard was being sourced by a Mexican male known as “Junior” who was incarcerated in California.

The informant also said a Hispanic woman known as “Green Eyes” was the middle person between Bernard and “Junior,” the document said.

Officers investigating the shooting learned, primarily through video surveillance, that Bernard was present at the shooting and temporarily transported one of the victims after he was shot. She was seen talking on a cell phone before, during and after the shooting, the document said.

Law enforcement interviewed Bernard March 28 and she identified the three people in the suspect vehicle as the three who have been charged in the shooting, the document said. She also identified a person listed in her phone as “Green Eyes” to be named Ashley. Bernard said she did not know the woman very well, and the woman would force Bernard to let her stay with her.

Bernard also said the woman was part of the drug activity at Rocky Boy and was the daughter of “Junior” and they all are drug dealers out of California, the document said.

When law enforcement found the three charged in the shooting in the Havre hotel, Ashley “Green Eyes” Cortez was with them, the document said.

After executing a search warrant, law enforcement found two handguns, multiple cell phones and suspected narcotics in the hotel room, the document said.

In further investigation, the document said, law enforcement was able to positively identify “Junior” as Martin Topete, an inmate of the Centinela State Prison in California. Law enforcement learned that Topete is incarcerated for a drug-related premeditated murder of a rival gang member in 2015, the document said.

The document said that information found during the investigation led law enforcement to believe Topete had ordered Yallup or Caplette or both to be murdered. Law enforcement also had received information from multiple sources that Hispanic males were in the area of the reservation to “clean house,” which they interpreted as a threat to life, the document said.

After obtaining a warrant to review data from the phone with the number with which Bernard had conducted a 31-minute phone call before, during and after the shooting was determined to have been in the area of Centinala State Prison for the duration of the warrant, April 14 through May 10, the document said.

A phone known to have been used by Bernard contacted that number 14 times during the period of the warrant, the document said.

Further review of Bernard’s cell phone obtained in the homicide investigation also found an abundance of evidence implicating Bernard in narcotics trafficking, the document said, including a conversation between Bernard and Cortez.

Witnesses told law enforcement that Bernard had continued to traffic narcotics after the March 28 shooting, the document said.

Tuesday, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Bernard’s residence. The document said an agent saw Cortez hiding in a bathroom with water running. After detaining Cortez, the agent saw a large amount of suspected meth and cocaine in the bathtub with the water running, apparently to destroy evidence.

Cortez and Bernard were both located in the house while the search warrant was executed, along with two others not identified in the document, and 64.5 grams of meth confirmed through a TruNarc scanner, about 98 grams of cocaine confirmed through a TruNarc scanner, and about 64 fentanyl pills. Law enforcement also found about $6,400 in cash and a firearm.

In the firearms case with the plea last week, the government alleged in court documents that on March 27, Airian Mariah Russette purchased two pistols from North 40 Outfitters, a federal firearms licensee in Havre, and immediately traveled back to Box Elder, where she traded the firearms to an individual in exchange for four oxycodone pills.

The individual had contacted Russette prior to the purchase by text message and asked Russette to buy the two guns.

The two firearms were recovered several hours later by law enforcement after they were used in a double homicide and still in possession of the homicide suspects.

During an interview, Russette admitted to lying on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Form 4473 to buy the firearms for someone other than herself, a transaction known as a straw purchase. She further admitted that she traded the firearms for the four pills. Because Russette checked “yes” on the ATF form that she was the actual buyer of the firearms, it influenced North 40 Outfitters into believing that the two pistols could be lawfully sold to Russette and caused the business to do so.

The firearms were a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. The ATF, FBI, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Rocky Boy’s Police Department and Hill County Sheriff’s Office, conducted the investigation.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make neighborhoods safer for everyone.

On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit https://Justice.gov/PSN.