C-Falls man sentenced for last year's drugs, firearms bust
A 35-year-old Columbia Falls man was sentenced in federal court on March 29 to 84 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy also ordered Joshua Lewis to pay a $100 special assessment and complete five years of supervised release.
Lewis, who was convicted of felony drug charges twice in the past, was the subject of a month-long investigation by the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force and other government agencies.
According to court documents, Task Force agents initially received a tip about Lewis in September 2009. After recording several cocaine transactions between Lewis and a confidential informant, Task Force agents attached a tracking device to Lewis’ vehicle in May 2010.
Over several days, they tracked Lewis to Flathead Valley Community College, where he was a student, to a residence on Canyon Drive, in Hungry Horse, and to Granite Peak Stoneworks, Lewis’ shop on Central Avenue, in Martin City.
After arresting Lewis in the Canyon, Task Force agents searched Lewis’ Columbia Falls residence while his wife and five juvenile children were present. The agents uncovered a number of safes and compartments hidden inside the residence’s walls.
They also found significant quantities of drugs, a money counter, scales, a counterfeit bill detector, $4,696 in cash and an arsenal of guns, magazines, speed-loaders and ammunition, including a Taurus .357 magnum pistol, a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver, a Sig Sauer .380-caliber handgun, two Glock .45-caliber handguns, a Benelli 12-gauge shotgun, a Hi-Point .40-caliber handgun, a Beretta .32-caliber handgun, an S.W.D. 9 mm pistol, and Intratec .22-caliber assault pistol, an Industria Argentina 7.62 mm rifle and a Hawes/Uberti .22-caliber handgun. They also found four bullet-proof vests.
Lewis’ wife of three years said she was surprised to hear about the number of guns and the quantities of drugs in the house because of “so much junk downstairs.” She said she thought her husband’s visitors came to use his computer.
As a convicted felon, Lewis was not allowed to possess guns. He had been sentenced in 1999 to eight years in prison, all suspended, after agents found 5 1/2 pound of marijuana in Lewis’ Whitefish home
Following several probation violations, including possession of drug paraphernalia, large knives, martial arts weapons and a black powder pistol, Lewis was re-sentenced in 2005 to eight years, with six suspended. One month later, he was sentenced to five years, concurrent with the earlier sentence, for possession of 2 1/2 methadone pills, six hydrocone pills, one morphine pill and some mushrooms.
According to the U.S. District Attorney, the June 7, 2011, search of Lewis’ Columbia Falls home had uncovered 212 grams of cocaine and 70 grams of methamphetamine.