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 Missoula before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto  and pleading not guilty on June 1 was:

Wolfgang Alexander Lucas Vasquez, 27, of Rexford, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. If convicted of the most serious crime, Vasquez faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Vasquez was detained pending further proceedings. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Flathead County Sheriff's Office investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-17.

Nicholas Steven Moskaloff, 19, of Kalispell, on charges of drug user and addict in possession of firearms and ammunition. If convicted of the most serious crime, Moskaloff faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Moskaloff was detained pending further proceedings. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Flathead County Sheriff's Office investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-10.

Appearing on June 3 was:

Joshua James Chappa, 44, of Bozeman, on charges of conversion of secured property, false statements on loan application, wire fraud, theft of livestock and mail fraud. If convicted of the most serious crime, Chappa faces a maximum 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release. Chappa was released pending further proceedings. The FBI investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-5.

Appearing on June 4 was:

Russell Scott Wilkey, 50, of Three Forks, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Wilkey faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Wilkey was detained pending further proceedings. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Broadwater County Sheriff's Office, Gallatin County Sheriff's Office and Glade's County Sheriff's Office investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-5.

Joshua Jay Schroeder, 39, of Butte, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth, possession with intent to distribute meth and distribution of meth. If convicted of the most serious crime, Schroeder faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release. Schroeder was detained pending further proceedings. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration service investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-9.

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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