The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on Jan. 11, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen, WAYNE ALAN PARTIN, a 52-year-old resident of Butte, appeared for sentencing. PARTIN was sentenced to a term of:
* Prison: 120 months
* Special Assessment: $200.00
* Supervised Release: 10 years
PARTIN was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and accessing with intent to view child pornography.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy J. Racicot and Cyndee L. Peterson, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
In early August 2011, law enforcement officers in Butte received information about a large quantity of prescription medication located at a local residence. The landlords of the residence evicted the tenants and later found a white, five-gallon bucket and a small lunch cooler that were filled with various pills, and a metal box containing smaller boxes with a white, powdery substance.
The bucket of pills had "Stericycle," a bar code, and an SKU number on it. Stericycle is a medical waste disposal company in Butte. An investigating officer interviewed the manager of Stericycle, who said he was not aware of that particular bucket, but confirmed that one of the former tenants of the above-referenced residence had been employed by Stericycle, though he had been terminated.
On Aug. 16, 2011, agents interviewed both former tenants of the residence where the bucket was found. The tenants reported receiving the bucket from PARTIN and buying drugs from PARTIN for approximately three years, including oxycontin, hydrocodone, morphine, and methamphetamine. The tenants said that PARTIN had stolen the drugs from Stericycle - where he was then employed - and described helping PARTIN move several containers of prescription pills from one residence to another in approximately July 2011.
Also on Aug. 16, 2011, officers from Probation and Parole in Silver Bow County, along with the case agents, conducted a probation search of PARTIN's residence in Butte. During the search, officers seized approximately 61,583 pills (controlled and non-controlled substances), Stericycle storage containers, sharps containers, needles, forceps and other medical waste, handwritten notes that appear to describe and identify pills, books used to identify pills, printed images that appeared to be child pornography, and a computer.
A forensic examiner analyzed the computer and determined that between January 2010 and August 2011, PARTIN searched for and viewed child pornography online. The images depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In addition, PARTIN used the computer to conduct searches aimed at identifying various pills and prescription medication.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that PARTIN will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, PARTIN does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations and the Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Agency.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
