Marijuana grower given deferred sentence

A 20-year-old Columbia Falls woman received a six-year deferred sentence for her role in a marijuana grow operation on Blackmer Lane, outside of Columbia Falls.

Shawn Plummer had faced up to 22 years in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted of the initial charges. In a May 21 pretrial agreement, the county attorney’s office agreed to drop a felony charge of criminal production of a dangerous drug if she pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal possession with intent to distribute.

Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison accepted the plea and sentenced Plummer on July 11.

Plummer’s boyfriend, Timothy Wheat, 29, pleaded guilty on May 30 to one felony count of criminal production of a dangerous drug. A felony charge of criminal possession with intent to distribute was dismissed. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.

According to court documents, the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force received a tip about a “large marijuana production operation” about a month before the two were arrested on Aug. 7, 2012.

A search of a shop on the Blackmer Lane property, owned by Wheat’s father, turned up 61 plants in the front room and nine plants in the north room, in various stages of growth, along with lights and lighting equipment. About 224 grams of marijuana was found drying in an upstairs room.

Officers also searched a home on Badrock Lane where the couple lived and allegedly found marijuana pipes and bongs, 11 grams of marijuana in a container next to a digital scale and “numerous firearms.”

When detained at the Blackmer Lane site, Wheat and Plummer allegedly told officers neither had a Montana medical marijuana card and that they helped with the grow operation.