FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 11, 2008
DONALD CASTERLINE, LEVI KERSHAW, and MIKE WILSON SENTENCED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Missoula, on January 11, 2008, before Chief U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, DONALD CASTERLINE, age 22, LEVI KERSHAW, age 21, and MIKE WILSON, age 21, residents of Victor, appeared for sentencing.
CASTERLINE was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 16 months, with last 8 months on home confinement
- Special Assessment: $100
- Restitution: $1,050
- Supervised Release: 3 years
KERSHAW was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 15 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Restitution: $1,050
- Supervised Release: 3 years
WILSON was sentenced to a term of:
- Probation: 3 years, with 8 months of home confinement
- Special Assessment: $100
- Restitution: $1,050
They were sentenced in connection with their guilty pleas to possession of stolen explosives.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On April 21, 2007 a secured explosive magazine located in the Bitterroot Mountains on Sweathouse Creek Road near Victor was broken into and its explosive contents stolen. The explosive product stolen was approximately 120 pounds of commercial explosive used in a legitimate rock quarry operation.
Upon initial investigation by the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office (RCSO), officers found a pay stub from Montana Logging Company in the name of Cory Pritchard. The owner of the Montana Logging Company related that he did have a current employee named Cory Pritchard. The owner related that Cory Pritchard was working on a three man crew logging outside Helena. Law enforcement located the logging crew camp trailer at an East Helena RV park.
When Cory and Brett Pritchard left the camp trailer for work on April 25, 2007, law enforcement detained and questioned them about the explosives theft in Ravalli County.
Brett Pritchard was the first suspect to admit being involved in the explosives theft. He admitted that in the early morning hours of April 22, 2007, after a night of drinking alcohol, he, Cory, and Donald Casterline drove to the Sweathouse Creek explosive magazine, and with the use of Brett's Ford Ranger pickup and vehicle tow-ropes/chains, were able to defeat the double locked door of the magazine and steal the entire explosive contents of the magazine. The stolen explosives were stored at Brett's residence. Brett then explained that on April 22, 2007, CASTERLINE came to Brett's residence and removed some of the stolen explosives.
Cory Pritchard eventually confessed to his part in the theft of the explosives also. He informed investigators that some of the stolen explosives were stored in his bedroom at a house he was sharing with his cousin Brett, KERSHAW and another individual.
On April 25, 2007, Ravalli County Sheriff's Office investigators secured the residence of Brett and Cory Pritchard for an eventual execution of a search warrant in an effort to recover the stolen explosives. While at the Pritchards' residence, law enforcement officers interviewed one of the roommates. The roommate advised law enforcement that in fact, five individuals were involved in stealing the explosives: Brett Pritchard, Cory Pritchard, Donald Casterline, Levi Kershaw and Mike Wilson. Law enforcement recovered stolen explosives from Cory Pritchard's bedroom and a crawl space of the home.
On April 25, 2007, WILSON called the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office and advised that he wanted to cooperate with investigators. He advised the officers that he was in possession of some of the stolen explosives. A search of WILSON'S vehicle by the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office secured additional stolen explosives.
On April 26, 2007, Ravalli County Sheriff's officers and an ATF agent conducted interviews of WILSON and KERSHAW. They both confessed to being present and participating in stealing the explosives from the Sweathouse Creek explosives magazine.
On April 26, 2007, Ravalli County Sheriff's officers interviewed CASTERLINE. During the interview, CASTERLINE admitted his participation in stealing explosives from the Sweathouse Creek explosives magazine and transporting some of the explosives around Ravalli County. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on his vehicles and recovered additional stolen explosives.
Brett Pritchard and Cory Pritchard pled guilty to federal charges and have been sentenced.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that they will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, they do have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris A. McLean prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office.
