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 Great Falls before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston and pleading not guilty on June 15 was:

Terry Lee Wells, Jr., 34, of Havre, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. If convicted of the most serious crime, Wells faces a minimum mandatory five years to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and four years of supervised release. Wells was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI, Great Falls Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Tri-Agency Drug Task Force investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-36.

Randal James Whitford, 37, of Box Elder, on charges of possession with intent to distribute meth and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth. If convicted of the most serious crime, Whitford faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release. Whitford was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI, Tri-Agency Drug Task Force and Chippewa Cree Law Enforcement Services investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-37.

Appearing on June 18 was:

Kyle Frank Russette, 25, of Box Elder, on charges of 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, Russette faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release. Russette was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI and Chippewa Cree Law Enforcement Services investigated the case. Pacer case reference. 20-29.

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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