Wanted man arrested near Seattle
The fourth man wanted in connection
with an armed home-invasion in Happy Valley on July 6 was arrested
July 19 in Renton, Wash., south of Seattle.
When the U.S. Marshall Service arrested
Stephen Acton, 27, of Whitefish, he was allegedly found in a home
with an illegal marijuana grow and had an assault rifle. He is
currently being held in the King County jail. A $75,000 felony
warrant for Acton was issued by Flathead County July 8.
In addition to the Happy Valley robbery
charges, Acton is also wanted for running a heroin and
methamphetamine drug ring and for making counterfeit money. He is
facing charges in Washington and could be extradited to Montana to
face charges here.
Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry
said Acton had some prior criminal history in Lincoln County. He
was on the department’s radar as a player in drug trafficking, but
wouldn’t call him a “kingpin.”
“He was as involved as any of the other
players,” Curry said. “Any time a heroin dealer gets off the
street, it’s a good thing.”
Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said
Acton had an insignificant criminal history locally.
The three men arrested and charged
earlier in connection with the Happy Valley robbery remain in the
Flathead County Detention Center and face felony charges.
Kelly Campbell, 22, of Columbia Falls,
was initially charged with accountability to robbery, possession of
stolen property and violating his parole conditions. Bradley
Thompson, 25, of Kalispell, was initially charged with robbery,
theft, obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest. Kevin
Gaethle, 29, also of Kalispell, was initially charged with robbery,
criminal contempt and violating his parole conditions.
According to sheriff’s deputy reports
in court records, 911 dispatchers received a report of an armed
invasion at 261 Hare Trail from a man who lived there at about 4:45
p.m. He told dispatchers his 16-year-old daughter had been held at
gunpoint when two armed men assisted by a third stole a gun safe
from the house.
The daughter told the three deputies
who arrived that she was working at a computer in the kitchen when
the two men entered. When she tried to call her father, they took
her cell phone away.
They then asked her where her father
stored his guns, and she told them they were in a safe in an
upstairs bedroom closet. While one man held a laser-sighted handgun
on her, the other searched the bedroom, located the safe and used a
cell phone to contact the get-away driver.
While the daughter was unable to
describe the driver, she later identified the man who held the gun
on her from a photo line-up as Acton. She said she could see the
light from the laser sight move across her body during the robbery.
She identified the second armed man as Gaethle.
The armed men wore “white mitten-type
gloves” and one had tattoos, the daughter said, and one of the
armed men told her they were taking the guns because her uncle
“Mike” owed them money and that the guns would be returned
later.
According to the father, the safe
contained a Ruger Mini-14 rifle, three AR-15 rifles, an FN .308
rifle, two 30-30 rifles, a World War II-era Luger pistol and
numerous loaded magazines. He also noted that two Burlington
Northern Railway rings were missing from the bedroom.
A next-door neighbor reported seeing a
gray Volkswagen pull up with three males and seeing two males
leave. A neighbor down the road reported seeing a vehicle drive
past with one door open and a large boxy object sticking out.
Apparently the gun safe would not fit into the Volkswagen Jetta the
suspects used to drive away.
The next day, Kalispell police arrested
a man for shoplifting at Wal-Mart who identified himself as “John
Hale” but turned out to be Thompson and was driving a Volkswagen
Jetta. During an interview, Thompson allegedly identified Acton and
Gaethle as the other two men involved in the armed robbery.
Gaethle along with the gun safe was
located in Columbia Falls. He allegedly told officers he had heard
of the robbery from others and knew the Happy Valley family because
he helped them move. He also said he knew Acton but didn’t know
Thompson. Then, saying he felt wrongly charged, he stopped the
interview by asking for an attorney.
A woman who was Thompson’s girlfriend
agreed to talk to officers about the robbery. She said she was
present at the Columbia Falls residence when Acton, Thompson and
Gaethle divided up the guns from the safe.
That same day, officers learned that
Campbell had been arrested during a traffic stop. During his
interview, Campbell allegedly said he knew about the robbery from
Acton and had made plans with Acton to take the stolen guns to
Portland, Ore., to sell or trade for heroin that would be brought
back to the Flathead. He said he was on his way to meet Acton when
he was stopped, and the missing guns were found in his vehicle, but
he denied any involvement in the robbery.
In a later interview, Thompson
allegedly told officers he, Acton and Gaethle stole the guns and
that Acton had pointed the laser-sighted handgun at the 16-year-old
girl in the Happy Valley residence.