Man sentenced for role in botched drug deal

Bo Hanger was dealt a two-year deferred sentence Thursday for his role in a botched drug deal that left his friend in the hospital with gunshot wounds on Dec. 5, 2009.

Hanger was sentenced by Flathead District Judge Ted Lympus after earlier pleading guilty to felony tampering or fabricating physical evidence as part of a plea agreement with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a charge of accountability to robbery as part of the deal. Hanger initially pleaded innocent during an arraignment on Dec. 31, 2009.

The sentence means Hanger will get no additional jail time if he remains law-abiding through the two-year sentence.

Hanger was driving his father’s Honda CR-V on Four Mile Drive with Bryan Schloss and David Palumbo as passengers when the shooting occurred, according to court documents.

Shots were fired when Schloss allegedly attempted to rob Palumbo of his cocaine. At the time, Schloss had a 9 mm pistol, but it jammed. Palumbo fled on foot with the cocaine after shooting Schloss four times with a .40-caliber handgun.

Hanger was arrested by Whitefish Police after dropping Schloss off at the hospital. Surveillance cameras captured footage of him dropping a gun holster into a garbage can, according to court documents.

Schloss was dealt a five-year suspended sentence for his role in the incident March 3 after reaching a plea agreement in which the County Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss a charge of accountability to robbery.

Palumbo turned himself in to Stevens County, Wash., authorities on Dec. 10, 2009, for violating his parole by leaving Washington. On Dec. 13, 2010, he was sentenced in federal court to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony possession of a firearm for furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.