FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
WARREN K. BOOTS PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings on March 18, 2008, before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, WARREN K. BOOTS, a 39-year-old resident of Watford, North Dakota, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Sentencing is set for June 19, 2008.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On March 19, 2006, an officer with the Montana Highway Patrol observed a vehicle that appeared to be traveling in an unsafe manner for the current weather conditions near Miles City. The officer stopped the vehicle with the intention of warning the driver to slow down for safety reasons. Upon making contact with the driver, the trooper smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the driver's window.
During a search of the vehicle, a plastic sandwich bag containing a small amount of marijuana; a digital scale and numerous small plastic bags commonly used for distribution of dangerous drugs; a cigarette pack containing a glass tube used to smoke methamphetamine; two small bags containing suspected methamphetamine; and a fanny pack hidden inside a pair of shorts containing three Zip-loc type plastic bags which contained additional bags of suspected methamphetamine were recovered.
The Drug Enforcement Administration lab analyzed the substance and found the amount of methamphetamine seized was 94 grams of a mixture of methamphetamine or 33.76 grams of pure methamphetamine.
BOOTS faces possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and could be sentenced to life, a $4,000,000 fine and 8 years supervised release.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheila R. Kolar prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
