Judge revokes meth sentences
A Columbia Falls man with a drug habit and a revoked drug sentence was back in Flathead County District Court on Aug. 18.
Judge David Ortley sentenced Anthony Ammirata, 40, to three years with the Department of Corrections for a revoked 2008 drug possession sentence and a consecutive five-year sentence for selling 10 grams of methamphetamine in 2009.
Whitefish police were familiar with Ammirata when they stopped him on Dec. 8, 2008, and arrested him for driving with a suspended license and no insurance. But during booking, they caught him trying to hide a jewel bag containing a white crystalline powder that tested positive for meth.
Facing a felony drug possession charge, Ammirata was given a two-year deferred sentence by Judge Katherine Curtis in September 2009. The sentence included strict provisions, including chemical evaluation and counseling, but Ammirata never contacted his probation officer.
Three months after his sentencing, a confidential informant wearing a recording device and working under the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, paid Ammirata $240 for 10 grams of meth. Ammirata later admitted to the investigating agent that he sold meth.
Judge Stewart Stadler revoked Ammirata's two-year deferred sentence in March 2010. Prior to the hearing, Ammirata's attorney, Lane Bennett, sought state money to pay for a chemical dependency evaluation. Ammirata by then was living in the Samaritan House, in Kalispell.
Facing two felonies, Ammirata signed a pretrial agreement on June 30, 2010, offering consecutive suspended sentences totaling eight years. He was released on his own recognizance and moved to Columbia Falls.
Ammirata's July 13, 2010, probation report was optimistic. He told his probation officer he wanted to get his life back on track and "lead a better life that does not involve running from police and always looking over your shoulder," including even going back to school.
Recognizing a change, Judge Ted Lympus sentenced Ammirata per the plea agreement in July 2010 and gave him credit for 198 days spent in the county jail.
But Ammirata apparently couldn't stay clean or out of trouble. According to a June 24 probation report this year, he tested positive for pot on two occasions, a pot pipe was found in a home where he stayed, and a meth pipe was found in his pickup truck.
Ammirata also admitted to stealing a drill from a Columbia Falls pawn shop and selling it at another pawn shop. And he allegedly took $1,500 from an elderly couple for landscaping work he never did. Ammirata said he was in a rut by then - he couldn't find work and was living in the back of his pickup truck.
On Aug. 18, Ortley revoked both of Ammirata's sentences and sentenced him to eight years with the Department of Corrections. Ortley recommended placement with the state's Connections Corrections program and credited Ammirata for time served but not for probationary time.