Escapee sentenced on gun charge

A Oregon fugitive who briefly escaped last week from the Mineral County jail while awaiting sentencing on federal weapons charges has been ordered to serve more than eight years in prison.

During a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Donald Joseph Schwindt, 42, was sentenced to 105 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

Schwindt, who pleaded guilty in October to being a felon in possession of a firearm, was involved in an October 2007 domestic disturbance in Creston. Shots were fired at a Creston home and at sheriff's deputies approaching the residence.

While awaiting Friday's sentencing hearing, Schwindt and another man, William Newhoff, 26, escaped from the Mineral County jail in Superior. Schwindt and Newhoff broke out the morning of Jan. 25 and were captured the afternoon of Jan. 26 near Troy.

Newhoff, who was driving a pickup truck the pair allegedly stole in Superior, was arrested during a traffic stop on the outskirts of Troy. Schwindt fled on foot from Montana Highway Patrol troopers and was arrested several hours later in some mountains near the town.

Federal escape charges against the pair, who also may face state charges, have yet to be filed. Accomplices who may have assisted in the escape also may face federal charges, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Previously, Schwindt and Brian Daniel Rendon, 37, were convicted of federal weapons charges after their participation in the Creston disturbance.

Rendon pleaded guilty in August to possession of a firearm by an unlawful drug user and was sentenced in January to 30 months in federal prison.

Both men 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.

Authorities captured 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.

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.

Prior to federal prosecution for the Creston incident, Schwindt was charged in Flathead County with criminal endangerment, assault on a peace officer and assault with a weapon, all felonies, and Rendon was 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