Two convicted in marijuana case

Two men from Northwest Montana were convicted in federal court Tuesday of conspiracy to grow marijuana.

Robert Schmitz, 40, of Trego and Edwin Beyer, 55, of Fortine were on trial for two days before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula.

Sentencing is Sept. 7. They are released until then.

In late summer 2001, law-enforcement officers on the Kootenai National Forest learned of marijuana plants being grown in the Deep Creek drainage.

They found 48 marijuana plants growing in a burned slash pile. Days later, they placed surveillance cameras to monitor the plants. When they visited the site later, they found most of the marijuana plants had been harvested.

Beyer was identified on the videotape.

A witness reportedly told officers that he helped Beyer and Schmitz plant marijuana seeds at 10 locations on the Kootenai National Forest where slash piles had been burned. Later, the witness said he helped Schmitz and Beyer pull approximately 30 male plants to further production of buds on female plants.

Beyer admitted harvesting marijuana plants at the Deep Creek area with Schmitz and tending 30 to 40 plants in the Meadow Creek area.

But Schmitz claimed he found marijuana plants in the Meadow Creek area and returned to harvest them some weeks later with a machete. He denied any other involvement at first. Later, he wanted to change his story, saying he had harvested marijuana from another site, but claimed he did not know where it was.

He said he overheard some men in a bar discussing their marijuana garden, including a detailed description of its location. He claimed he was able to locate the garden and harvest it, though he was not able to give a description of the men whose conversation he heard.

He and Beyer face penalties of up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years supervised release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Van de Wetering prosecuted the case.