Kalispell man not charged in meth case

For pleading guilty to possessing drugs and intending to sell them, a Kalispell man will not face charges of operating a meth lab.

Matthew Freeman, 20, of Kalispell, pleaded guilty in Flathead County District Court during a hearing Thursday morning to a charge of criminal possession with intent to distribute.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed felony charges of operation of a clandestine laboratory and criminal manufacture of dangerous drugs, and a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs.

Members of the Kalispell Police Department and the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office SWAT teams searched a 1026 1/2 Fourth St. W. residence at 10 p.m. Dec. 1, 2009, and located 10 “jewel” baggies on Freeman. The baggies contained a white powdery substance that later tested positive for meth.

Items recovered during the search included three propane tanks and a propane stove, tubing, muriatic acid, numerous 120-milligram pseudoephedrine tablets, pickling salt, anhydrous ammonia and a pink backpack belonging to Freeman that contained suspected marijuana, a glass pipe containing suspected methamphetamine residue and a postal scale.

Freeman’s sentencing hearing is set for Aug. 5.