C-Falls man sentenced for assault and meth
A 32-year-old Columbia Falls man was sentenced on Oct. 31 to 10 years, with half suspended, after he was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend and possessing methamphetamine in April.
Joseph Boles’ felony Flathead County criminal history goes back to 2004, when he was charged with failing to register as a sex offender and misdemeanor theft. He was given a five-year suspended prison sentence by Flathead County District Court Judge Ted Lympus.
About three weeks after he was sentenced, Boles was caught in the act of burglarizing the Center Street Quick Lube business in Kalispell on Oct. 17, 2007. Officers observed Boles and another man rifling through drawers when they announced their presence.
The two men tried to run but were tackled. Boles got into a scuffle with two officers, yelling profanities and resisting arrest. One of the arresting officers went to the hospital with broken ribs. Boles threatened the other officer and his wife.
Boles and his accomplice were found in possession of checks stolen from the lube shop. Boles was charged with felony charges of burglary and assaulting a peace officer and faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Following a January 2008 plea deal, which took into account the time remaining from his 2004 sentence, Judge Lympus sentenced Boles to 15 years in prison with 10 suspended for assaulting the police officer, dismissed the burglary charge and tacked on a five-year prison sentence, concurrent, for the 2004 charges.
Boles was back in custody this year after Kalispell police responded to his girlfriend’s house in Kalispell for a domestic dispute report on April 6. The girlfriend told police that Boles bit her, pinned her to the bed and tore up the trailer home she lived in. She showed the bite marks and bruises to the officers.
Officers located Boles at his Columbia Falls residence. A search following his arrest for misdemeanor partner-family member assault turned up a jewel bag in his pocket containing 0.3 grams of methamphetamine.
Boles was charged with felony drug possession and faced up to five years if convicted. Three days after his arrest, Boles was released on a $2,000 bond. He was ordered to wear a drug-monitoring patch, but he failed to show up to have the patch tested, and an arrest warrant was issued.
In an Aug. 7 plea agreement, the Flathead County Attorney’s Office agreed to drop the partner-family member assault charge and recommend a five-year sentence under the Department of Corrections for the drug possession charge.
The net effect would have been 13 years with the Department of Corrections, with eight suspended and a recommendation for placement with the Connections Corrections boot camp program.
But further complicating Boles’ situation was another drug possession arrest on May 11. While serving an arrest warrant on Boles at his residence, officers found a syringe in his pocket. He refused to let the officers search his home without a search warrant, so they called Boles’ probation officer to get it done.
A search of Boles’ home turned up a used syringe, a digital scale and a glass pipe with methamphetamine residue. He was charged with felony drug possession and faced from 2 to 5 years if convicted.
Facing two drug cases from 2014 and his remaining sentence from 2007, Boles was brought before Judge David Ortley on Oct. 31 for sentencing. Boles was sentenced to five years with the Department of Corrections for the April drug charge, consecutive to what was left from his 2007 charge, and five years in prison, all suspended and consecutive to the other charges, for the May drug charge.