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Press Release

Charles Patton Sentenced To Over 10 Years In Prison For Distributing Methamphetamine In Great Falls

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Montana

The United States Attorney's Office announced that on April 25, 2014, before U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris, , CHARLES FERRILL PATTON, 50, of Great Falls, was sentenced to a term of 125 months' imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release after his January 22, 2014, guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Betley told the Court that on April 23, 2013, the Russell Country Drug Task Force found Patton in possession of $3377 in cash and 106 grams of actual methamphetamine in his pockets. Agents arrested Patton but he bonded out of jail within a matter of a few days. On May 7, 2013, Patton then attempted to flee the jurisdiction when he attempted to board a flight leaving Missoula International Airport using a dead man's driver's license. TSA authorities stopped Patton but did not detain him. On May 8, 2013, Great Falls law enforcement found the defendant getting out of his car near his home in Great Falls. Law enforcement searched Patton's car and found methamphetamine, a digital scale, a syringe, and a methamphetamine pipe. The DEA lab analyzed the methamphetamine and found one baggie contained 6.2 grams of actual methamphetamine. A gallon size zip lock bag contained 385.2 grams of actual methamphetamine - almost a pound of pure methamphetamine.

The term "actual" methamphetamine refers to the purity contained in the transacted amount which is usually "cut" with inert ingredients that make the actual product less pure but more profitable as drugs are generally sold based on quantity not quality.

This investigation was conducted by the Russell Country Drug Task Force.

Updated January 14, 2015