Feds pick up drug, firearms bust
A 34-year-old man arrested in June after police found drugs and firearms at his home in Columbia Falls now faces federal drug and firearm charges.
Joshua Lewis was arraigned in federal court in Missoula on Oct. 13. He faces charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, distribution of cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
If convicted, Lewis faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and up to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and at least four years of supervised release.
Flathead County sheriff's deputies and members of the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force arrested Lewis on June 7 after a month-long investigation that included wiring a confidential informant for a cocaine transaction and attaching a tracking device to the Mustang Lewis drove.
This was not Lewis' first run-in with law enforcement. In 1999, Flathead County District Court Judge Ted Lympus gave Lewis an eight-year suspended sentence for possession marijuana with intent to sell.
Following several probation violations that included possession of martial arts weapons and firearms, Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart Stadler sentenced Lewis to eight years with six suspended.
One month later, Lewis was arrested after a search of his Granite Peak Stoneworks shop in Martin City turned up methadone, hydrocone and morphine pills. Lympus sentenced him to five years concurrent with the earlier sentences.
A search of Lewis' Columbia Falls home following his arrest in June turned up compartments hidden in walls and several safes. Uncovered were bags of mushrooms, a bucket of pot, a pan of hashish, a metal tin with cocaine, pills and paraphernalia, several gallon-sized bags of marijuana, scales, a money counter and $4,686 in currency.
Officers also found numerous handguns, rifles, shotguns, ammunition and loaded magazines in the home Lewis shared with his wife and five juvenile children. His wife said she was surprised to hear about the drugs and guns because there was "so much junk downstairs." She said she thought her husband's friends came to the house to use his computer.
The state charged Lewis with seven felony drug charges. In convicted, he faces from one year to life for each of three counts relating to sales of cocaine to a confidential informant, and up to 20 years for each of four counts of possession with intent to distribute.