Charges piling up for Marias Pass burglary suspects
The 21-year-old Columbia Falls man charged in an attempted burglary near Marias Pass on Nov. 26 pleaded not guilty in Flathead County District Court to seven different charges on Jan. 12.
Some of the charges Cameron Carr faces originated from two earlier incidents in the Flathead. If convicted on all the charges, Carr faces from six to 37 years and fines totaling $203,000.
According to court documents, Kalispell bike patrol officers observed a suspicious group of people near a vehicle in Woodland Park on July 1, 2011, and smelled marijuana. When they spoke to the driver, he allegedly cussed loudly, acted very nervous and refused to turn off his engine.
The driver then allegedly revved his engine and backed up quickly, nearly hitting the officers. The vehicle then sped off, crossing a bike path and nearly hitting several people laying on the grass.
A woman who exited the vehicle when the officers first arrived ID'd the driver as Carr. When officers located the vehicle on U.S. 2 west of Kalispell, a search turned up a syringe, a spoon with meth residue, prescription pills, a digital scale and drug paraphernalia.
Carr was charged with felony counts of criminal endangerment, assaulting a peace officer and drug possession, along with misdemeanor counts of eluding a peace officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Oct. 15, 2011, Northwest Drug Task Force agents met with Carr's sister and learned Carr had passed out at their mother's home in Kalispell.
After Carr's mother OK'd a search, agents located heroin, methamphetamine, needles, a bong and other drug paraphernalia. Carr was charged with one felony count of drug possession.
During a Jan. 5 hearing, Carr did not contest a petition to revoke his release under the July 1 charges. An attempted robbery charge filed after Carr was arrested in the parking lot of the Shamrock Casino in Evergreen was also dropped.
Carr was carrying a can of pepper spray at the time but had not actually robbed the casino.
Carr and a Missoula man, Jonathan Graves, 23, were both charged in the attempted burglary near Marias Pass. Graves has also pleaded not guilty to felony charges of assaulting a peace officer and attempting to escape following his attempt to flee the court room during a Dec. 22 hearing.
Graves also faces a felony theft charge after he allegedly stole a coin bag from a parked vehicle in Kalispell on Nov. 23. The bag, along with evidence from the Marias Pass burglary, was found in a Jeep Cherokee that had eluded police following the Nov. 26 burglary attempt. The vehicle was found overturned on Cedar Creek Road, north of Columbia Falls.