Billings man sentenced to 10 years in meth case

BILLINGS--Billings resident Gregory Adam Kilwein, 50, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release for conviction in a drug investigation in which agents found four pounds of methamphetamine in his apartment, U.S. Attorney Kurt G. Alme said.

Kilwein also forfeited the $30,350 seized in case. Kilwein pleaded guilty in July to possession with intent to distribute meth.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided at the sentencing.

In March, a Billings Police officer saw Kilwein riding a bicycle on a downtown sidewalk in violation of a city ordinance. In addition, Kilwein was acting suspiciously by watching the officer and then trying to avoid him by going around the block. When the officer pulled behind Kilwein in an alley, Kilwein dropped his bicycle and took off running. While fleeing, he threw a bag he was carrying over a fence.

The officer caught Kilwein after a brief chase and recovered the bag. Lying near the bag in the snow was a package covered in tape that had fallen from the bag. When the officer picked up the bag, he could see a similar taped package and white envelope containing money.

Kilwein was on state probation, and his probation officer authorized a search of Kilwein, his bag and his residence. The bag contained $12,450 and each taped package weighed about 500 grams, or a little more than one pound, of meth. Kilwein was arrested and while being booked at the jail, detention staff found a bag with about four ounces of meth in his underwear.

In monitored jail calls, a drug task force officer listened to Kilwein instruct relatives to clean out his apartment, specifically telling them to get rid of stuff and that there was cash hidden in his apartment and other locations. At Kilwein’s apartment, officers seized an additional four pounds of meth and $3,900 located in a safe. Four pounds of meth is the equivalent of about 14,496 individual doses. Relatives consented to a search and voluntarily turned over $14,000.  In addition, a search of Kilwein’s phone seized at his arrest showed messages to a Mexican phone number belonging to another person under investigation and who was living in Mexico.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Suek prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI task force.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.