Man pleads guilty to gun charge

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/The Daily Inter Lake

A fugitive accused of causing a disturbance at a Creston home and then shooting at responding sheriff's deputies was convicted Thursday of federal weapons charges.

Daniel Joseph Schwindt, 40, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Missoula to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Schwindt faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and $250,000 in fines.

Schwindt and his co-defendant, Brian Daniel Rendon, 37, each were indicted in May on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of being a fugitive from justice in possession of a firearm, and one count of being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm.

Rendon pleaded guilty in August to possession of a firearm by an unlawful drug user. Both men are incarcerated and awaiting sentencing.

Schwindt and Rendon were wanted for parole violations out of Oregon when, early in the morning on Oct. 25, 2007, two women called the Flathead County Sheriff's Office from a trailer on Riverside Road in Creston to report that two men had beaten them up and then threatened to shoot at responding law enforcement officers.

Schwindt had been convicted in Oregon of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in 1992. Rendon had been convicted of homicide in 1990.

According to one of the women, Rendon kept a .22-caliber rifle in the trailer and Schwindt kept guns - including a recently purchased rifle and armor-piercing ammunition - in another house on the property.

As deputies approached the home, shots were fired toward officers. Authorities set up a perimeter around the trailer and then roadblocks, capturing Rendon and Schwindt after a short manhunt.

Rendon later told investigators he could see the red-and-blue flashing lights of approaching police cars as Schwindt fired a .223-caliber rifle out the window in anger.

Deputies found two guns at the scene: a .22-caliber rifle and a Ruger .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle. Federal prosecutors allege the pair also had a second .22-caliber rifle.

Investigators found multiple bullet holes in the trailer and the kitchen windows had been shot out.

Near the shot-out windows, deputies found four .223-caliber bullet casings.

The fugitives had only been in Montana for about three weeks, prosecutors said.

Both men also are awaiting trial on charges filed in Flathead County.

Schwindt is charged with criminal endangerment, assault on a peace officer and assault with a weapon, all felonies, and Rendon is charged with felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor partner assault.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com