Deputy hopeful gets jail

The man who was on track to become a Flathead County sheriff's deputy in 2005 - until his arrest on a theft charge, followed by six other criminal convictions - was back in court Thursday morning.

Richard Rossmiller, 38, appeared before Flathead District Court Judge Ted Lympus for a disposition hearing on violating terms of his probation.

This time, Rossmiller left the courtroom in handcuffs and was escorted to the Flathead County jail.

Rossmiller, who had pledged to remain law-abiding during his release, admitted in court April 5 that he violated his probation terms. That plea, in turn, had stemmed from his guilty plea March 14 to felony counterfeiting charges filed in U.S. District Court in Great Falls.

Among the evidence against him on that federal charge were several counterfeit bills in his car - which allegedly had been purchased with $6,900 in fake $100 bills - parked outside the Flathead County Justice Center on Aug. 31.

He had driven the car to Kalispell to appear in court on an earlier probation-violation charge. A federal investigation in Great Falls had culminated that day with a search warrant for his home and vehicle and, when the counterfeit bills were discovered in the car along with Rossmiller's identification and credit cards, officials served an arrest warrant on him as he appeared in Flathead District Court.

On Thursday, Rossmiller's attorney, Sean Hinchey, asked the court to wait until his federal court appearance to impose the sentence for probation violation, noting that his client had been law-abiding other than his counterfeiting activity. He also was paying restitution and reporting to federal and state probation officers as required, Hinchey said.

But Lympus took issue with the idea that Rossmiller was law-abiding, and imposed a 10-year sentence to the state Department of Corrections, with five years suspended. It is to be served concurrently with a similar recommended sentence in Choteau County for a probation offense there.

That was Deputy County Attorney Tammi Fisher's recommendation, as well.

Rossmiller is scheduled to appear July 2 on the counterfeiting charge in federal court in Great Falls.