Information: Federal Court Arraignments

The United States Attorney’s Office announced that those persons listed below were arraigned before the U.S. Magistrate and the indictments handed down by the Grand Jury unsealed.

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Cavan in Billings on December 21, 2017 and entering pleas of Not Guilty were:

• VERNELLE LYNN BADBEAR, a 39-year-old resident of Wyola, appeared on charges of second degree murder.  If convicted of the charge contained in the indictment, BADBEAR faces life in prison, $250,000 in fines and 5 years supervised release.  The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  PACER Case Reference.  17-127

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Johnston in Great Falls on December 21, 2017 and entering pleas of Not Guilty were:

• CALVIN RED THUNDER, JR., a 48-year-old resident of Brockton, appeared on charges of abusive sexual contact.  If convicted of the charge contained in the indictment, RED THUNDER faces life in prison, $250,000 in fines and 5 years supervised release.  The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Peck Tribes Department of Law and Justice.   PACER Case Reference.  17-85

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Johnston in Great Falls on December 20, 2017 and entering pleas of Not Guilty were:

• DANIEL GONZALEZ, a 29-year-old resident of Great Falls, appeared on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm.  If convicted of the charge contained in the indictment, GONZALEZ faces 10 years in prison, $250,000 in fines and 3 years supervised release.  The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.   PACER Case Reference.  17-80

• KAREEM HIDARA, a 33-year-old resident of Winnipeg, Manitoba, appeared on charges of conspiracy to export a controlled substance, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  If convicted of the most serious charges contained in the indictment, HIDARA faces life in prison, $10,000,000 in fines and 5 years supervised release.  The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.   PACER Case Reference.  14-30

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 so that you stay current and not miss any important developments in the case.

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.