THE LOCAL NEWS OF THE MADISON VALLEY, RUBY VALLEY AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Sheriff charged with felonies involving 2017 drug deal case

Twin Bridges drug buy evidence missing

VIRGINIA CITY—Madison County Sheriff Roger Thompson was charged with two felonies and one misdemeanor on Wednesday, September 5, by the State of Montana. All three charges are in connection with a drug-related investigation that took place in June of 2017.

State witnesses include several members of the Madison County Sheriff’s Department and two agents of the state Division of Criminal Investigation, a branch of the Montana Department of Justice.

The charges were brought by Assistant Attorney General and Special Deputy Madison County Attorney Mary Cochenour.

 

Background 

In March of 2018, Agent Mark Hilyard of the Montana Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) was assigned to investigate a complaint that Thompson falsified information on a search warrant filed after the arranged drug buy in June of 2017. 

The buy, which took place near Twin Bridges, on Monday night, June 11, was facilitated by a confidential informant (CI).

The informant was to enter the residence of Martin James Walsh, an alleged drug source, to purchase drugs while Thompson, Deputy Wes Heavrin, Sergeant Craig Schroder, Reserve Deputy Dan Birdsill and Champlain Tom Luksha, watched the buy from a distance.

The CI and his vehicle were searched before entering Walsh’s residence.

Heavrin and Schroder searched the vehicle, a pickup truck, and found no drugs in the cab. Birdsill searched the pickup’s box and found no drugs.

Heavrin did not see who searched the CI’s person, but noted that a Crown Royal bag with drug paraphernalia—a butane torch and a glass pipe—and a plastic bag containing what later tested positive as methamphetamine was found on the CI.

The CI then entered Walsh’s residence, where he successfully purchased a brown substance that later tested positive as heroin, and returned to law enforcement, about 15 minutes later, according to court records.

According to court records, Heavrin took the heroin and the CI’s drugs and paraphernalia back to the sheriff’s office at the county courthouse. Heavrin and Schroder then took 11 photographs of these items, and created a photograph log, documenting which items were taken from Walsh’s residence and which were taken from the CI.

Heavrin then placed these items in an evidence bag.

According to court records, Thompson then took custody of the evidence and told Heavrin and Schroder that he would enter them into evidence.

According to court records, Thompson told Heavrin not to write up a narrative on the controlled buy because he would cover this in his report.

At about 1 a.m. on June 12, with evidence that heroin had been purchased, Thompson sought and was granted a warrant to search Walsh’s home from District Court Judge Luke Berger.

In the affidavit requesting the warrant, Thompson wrote that he “met with the informant and searched him and his vehicle which were both free of any drugs or money.” 

This conflicts with the sheriff’s department report stating that drugs had been found on the CI, although Heavrin stated he did not remember who searched the informant.

On May 1, 2018, Hilyard and fellow agent John Sullivan, questioned Thompson about the conflicting information.

Thompson clarified that his statement in the affidavit referred to the fact that there were no drugs or money on the informant when the CI entered Walsh’s house, but acknowledged that they did find drugs and paraphernalia on his person prior to the buy.

The agents then read Thompson a Miranda warning, a police warning given to criminal suspects to preserve the admissibility of statements made during an interrogation.

The agents then searched the evidence locker and Thompson’s office and could not locate the CI’s drugs or paraphernalia.

On May 2, Hilyard interviewed Schroder. He said that when first confiscated, the CI’s drugs and paraphernalia were placed on the hood of the CI’s pickup and seen by everyone, including Thompson.

 

Charges

All of this information from the DCI investigation resulted in three charges against Thompson,  one misdemeanor and two felonies.

Thompson is first charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor. That charge comes from the allegation that Thompson knowingly made a false statement in a sworn affidavit to the court, namely the request for the search warrant for the residence where the drug buy occurred.

A second charge against Thompson is a felony count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Thompson is alleged to have taken “possession of physical evidence that was found on a confidential informant, particularly white powder that tested positive for methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia,” and removed it “with the purpose to impair its availability in a proceeding or investigation.”

The third count and second felony against Thompson is perjury.

Court documents allege that Thompson “while in an official proceeding…knowingly made a false statement under oath…or swore or affirmed the truth of a statement previously made.” This is also in reference to the affidavit in request of the search warrant.

A public servant found guilty of the first charge—official misconduct—is subject to a fine of up to $500 and a jail term of up to six months. 

The felony counts—perjury and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence—each carry the same sentence: up to a 10-year prison term, and a fine of up to $50,000, or both.

Thompson has been summoned to an initial hearing, set to take place at the county courthouse in early October.

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The Madisonian

65 N. MT Hwy 287
Ennis, MT 59729
406-682-7755
www.madisoniannews.com

Cori Koenig, editor: editor@madisoniannews.com
Susanne Hill, billing: s.hill@madisoniannews.com 
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