Informational: Federal Court arraignments

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the following persons were arraigned or appeared this week before U.S. Magistrate judges on indictments handed down by the Grand Jury or on criminal complaints. The charging documents are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty:

Appearing in Billings before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan and pleading not guilty on March 30 was:

Marc Buetow, 52, of San Diego, CA, on charges of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute. If convicted of the most serious crime, Buetow faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release. Buetow was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI and Montana Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 18-89.

Appearing on April 2 was:

Courage Dane DeCrane, 20, of Pryor, on charges of aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact. If convicted of the most serious crime, DeCrane faces a maximum of life in prison, a $250,000 fine and at least five years to life of supervised release. DeCrane was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-16.

Appearing in Great Falls before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston and pleading not guilty on March 31 was:

Amanda Jean Holland, 38, of Sunburst, on charges of theft of mail by postal employee and destruction of mail by postal employee. If convicted of the most serious crime, Holland faces a maximum five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-16.

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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