The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the following persons were arraigned this week before U.S. Magistrate judges and indictments handed down by the Grand Jury were unsealed. Indictments are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty:
Appearing in Great Falls before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston and pleading not guilty on Feb. 27 was:
JAMES MICHAEL GARCIA, 26, of Brockton, on charges of assault resulting in serious bodily injury and felony child abuse alleged to have occurred on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. If convicted of the most serious crime, Garcia faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release. Garcia was detained. The case was investigated by the FBI. Pacer case reference. 19-07.
Appearing in Billings before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan, and pleading not guilty on Feb. 27 was:
JONATHAN LEVI DEPUTEE, 42, of Hardin, on charges of failure to register as a sexual offender. If convicted of the most serious crime, Deputee faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Deputee was detained. The case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service. Pacer case reference. 19-17.
MELISSA ANN PRETTYPAINT-ALVARADO, 41, of Crow Agency, on charges of assault resulting in serious bodily injury alleged to have occurred on the Crow Indian Reservation. If convicted of the most serious crime, Prettypaint-Alvarado faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Prettypaint-Alvarado was detained. The case was investigated by the FBI. Pacer case reference. 19-21.
ZACHARY BENEDICT LEE, 33, of Billings, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Lee faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Lee was detained. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Pacer case reference. 19-20.
Appearing on Feb. 26 and pleading not guilty was:
KENNETH CLARENCE ALTMAN, 26, of Billings, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Altman faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Altman was detained. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Pacer case reference. 19-02.
RALPH KENNETH COSTA, 34, of Crow Agency, on charges of assault resulting in substantial bodily injury to a dating partner alleged to have occurred on the Crow Indian Reservation. If convicted of the most serious crime, Costa faces a maximum five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Costa was detained. The case was investigated by the FBI. Pacer case reference. 19-14.
AMBER LYNN LANPHEAR, 33, of Billings, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute meth, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Lanphear faces a minimum mandatory five years to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and at least four years of supervised release. Lanphear was detained. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Pacer case reference. 19-19.
LAWRENCE ALEX FOSTER III, 46, of Billings, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, attempted possession and possession with intent to distribute meth. If convicted of the most serious crime, Foster faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and five years of supervised release. Foster was detained. The case was investigated by the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force. Pacer case reference. 19-18.
CRAIG AARON YEATES, 34, of Billings, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, attempted possession of meth with intent to distribute and prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Yeates faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and five years of supervised release. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force. Pacer case reference. 19-24.
If any of the above cases are of interest to your media organization and the community it serves, we encourage you to monitor the progress of the case regularly through the U.S. District Court calendar and the PACER system.
To establish a PACER account, which will allow you to review documents filed in the case, please go to, http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the district court’s calendar, please go to https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
