Brockway jailed over probation issue

Tracy Brockway, the only woman sentenced in the illegal-weapons prosecution of

Project 7 members, is back in the Flathead County jail for allegedly failing to report to her

probation officer.

Tracy Brockway, the only woman sentenced in the illegal-weapons prosecution of Project 7 members, is back in the Flathead County jail for allegedly failing to report to her probation officer.

Brockway, 35, was sentenced in January to 27 months in federal prison for conspiracy to possess illegal firearms after an investigation by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Five other members of the local paramilitary group were also indicted on machine-gun charges. All but one, Larry Chezem, pleaded guilty.

Brockway's prison sentence was reduced to 16 months in exchange for her testimony against Chezem at his trial this summer, during which he too was found guilty.

Now, however, Brockway is back in jail in Kalispell on charges that she violated terms of a suspended sentence she received here before the federal charges were filed.

In June 2002, District Judge Stewart Stadler sentenced Brockway to 10 years, suspended, for a felony charge of obstructing justice. She had helped conceal another Project 7 member, David Burgert, when he went into hiding from law enforcement and was considered to be a fugitive.

Burgert was the purported leader of Project 7. The group was accused of plotting to kill local judges and other officials. They amassed illegal weapons and trained with them in anticipation of foreign invasion or natural disasters, they said.

Brockway acted as the group's "medic," the members said. She was also accused of using a job at Whitefish Police Department to obtain personal information about local police officers.

After she was sentenced, she was allowed to move to Georgia and serve the probationary 10 years there.

But when federal officials tried to arrest her on the weapons warrant, she couldn't be found.

Her probation officer in Georgia, Doug Gerrells, reported that Brockway had failed to report to him as required since December 2003 and had apparently absconded. She was found in May 2004 and was arrested.

Brockway is being held on $50,0000 bond. If she is found to be in violation of her sentence, the original 10-year sentence could be imposed.