Man sentenced on cocaine charge

The Daily Inter Lake

Charges of burglary dropped in plea deal

A Kalispell man convicted of selling cocaine and implicated in the January 2008 burglary of a U.S. 93 South sandwich shop has been put on probation.

During a hearing Thursday afternoon in Flathead County District Court, Kelly Cecil Campbell, 19, was ordered to serve a three-year deferred sentence.

Campbell pleaded guilty in November to felony criminal distribution of dangerous drugs following his arrest for selling approximately one gram of cocaine to an informant working for the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force in January 2008.

In exchange for his plea to the drug charge, prosecutors dropped two counts of burglary and recommended the probationary sentence.

Campbell and two other people were implicated in the burglary of Big Town Hero, located in the 1600 block of U.S. 93 South, after it was broken into twice between 10 p.m. on Jan. 25, 2008 and 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 26, 2008, according to court documents.

About $2,000 in cash and checks were stolen from the safe in what was later proven to be an inside job.

Because Campbell had been cited with a number of misdemeanor crimes between accepting the plea bargain and Thursday's hearing, District Court Judge Katherine R. Curtis gave his probation officer the option of sending Campbell to boot camp.