MISSOULA—A Missoula man who admitted possessing
methamphetamine for distribution in the community was sentenced today to 144
months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release, said U.S. Attorney
Kurt Alme. The defendant was also
ordered to forfeit $4,247 in U.S. Currency.
Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.
Matthew Curtis Olson, 36, pleaded guilty in July to
possession with intent to distribute meth.
In court records filed in the case, the prosecution said the
Missoula Police Department stopped a pickup truck occupied by Olson and another
person, identified as Individual 1, in September 2017. Individual 1 told
officers that Olson had spilled meth in the truck earlier. Police arrested Olson
for driving with a suspended license and during a search of him, officers found
a small amount of meth and a digital scale.
Missoula police officers later executed a search warrant on
the truck and found about 420 grams of meth inside a hidden compartment.
Individual 1 later claimed ownership of the truck and denied Olson knew of the
presence of the large amount of meth that was seized.
From August 2018 to about June 2019, various law enforcement
officers in Missoula interviewed a number of cooperating witnesses associated
with Olson. The witnesses said that Olson had possessed with intent to
distribute and had distributed more than 500 grams, which is about 1.1 pounds
or a little more than 3,624 doses, of meth.
Law enforcement officers arrested Olson on February 1 on a
federal drug trafficking warrant as he was leaving the home of an associate.
Officers seized about one ounce of meth from Olson along with about $4,247 in
U.S. currency. Officers also searched the associate’s home and found six ounces
of meth and nearly $15,000 in U.S. currency.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thaggard prosecuted the case,
which was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of
Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, FBI Violent Crimes Regional
Task Force, Missoula Police Department, Missoula County Sheriff’s Department,
and the Missoula High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 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.
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