Crime spree leads to prison time
By RICHARD HANNERS
Whitefish Pilot
A 20-year-old Kalispell man with a long rap sheet was sentenced to prison for his role in burglarizing a Happy Valley convenience store and destroying a stolen pickup truck out on KM Ranch Road.
On Jan. 22, Flathead County District Court Judge Ted Lympus sentenced Timothy Christopher Beck to 15 years in prison with 10 suspended for his role in the December 2007 burglary of Midway Mini Mart on U.S. Highway 93.
Beck was also sentenced to 10 years suspended for felony theft and 10 years suspended for felony mischief for his role in stealing a Toyota Tundra in Kalispell and trashing it while “mudbogging” on KM Ranch Road in July 2008.
All three sentences are to run concurrently, and Lympus recommended Beck be placed at the Corrections Correction pre-release center. Beck was also ordered to pay $40,771 in restitution, a $3,000 fine and $500 in public defender fees.
The Flathead County Sheriff’s Department arrested Beck and two others in January 2008 and charged them with the Midway Mini Mart burglary. Beck was apprehended by an Idaho State Trooper when his vehicle broke down in Idaho Falls, and he was extradited to Montana. An anonymous tip led to their arrests.
Curtis Bowers, 20, and Beck’s brother, Rusty Alan Gring, 17, were also arrested. According to sheriff’s detectives, the three men used a tire iron to smash the glass door at the front of the Midway Mini Mart. A security tape showed two men wearing hooded sweatshirts and covering their faces with bandanas. The third man was not covered.
The three men allegedly stole cigarettes, tobacco, beer and lottery tickets worth $1,839. Some of the lottery tickets were cashed in later in Kalispell.
At the time of his arrest, Bowers faced charges of carrying a concealed weapon, drug possession and contempt of court. He also faced charges for using $1,000 in bad checks at Alpine Market, Super 1 Foods, Mike’s Conoco and Midway Mini Mart in summer 2007.
Bowers was released on his own recognizance in February 2008 but failed to appear in court later that month. Soon after, Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart Stadler issued a bench warrant for Bowers.
According to court documents, Beck also has a lengthy criminal history, including allegedly stealing a rifle and knife from a vehicle on Grandview Drive in Kalispell in November 2007, stealing $90 from the Community Thrift Store in Kalispell in December 2007, breaking into four coffee kiosks across the valley in December 2007 and stealing $225 in cash and a CD player, stealing furniture from a mobile home in Happy Valley in January 2008, breaking and entering the Best Bet Casino in Kalispell twice in March 2008 to steal alcohol, and stealing a pickup truck from Bowdish Road in April 2008 and removing the stereo and personal items.
Beck was also convicted of criminal mischief in September 2007 for his role in vandalizing a car. In exchange for a guilty plea, prosecutors had lowered Beck’s felony charge to a misdemeanor and recommended a six-month suspended sentence and $1,900 in restitution.
According to court documents, Beck allegedly allied himself during his two-year crime spree with several other Flathead men who later faced multiple charges, including David William Rodriguez, 19, Evan Thomas Barbouletos, 19, Robert William Evans, 26, Cody Alan Dow, 18, and Joshua Charles Kelly, 19.