Dad pleads innocent to drug charge

The father of a 7-year-old girl attacked by four American bulldogs in Creston on New Year’s Eve pleaded not guilty to a felony drug manufacturing charge Thursday in Flathead District Court.

Jonathon Banonis, 30, was charged with criminal manufacture of dangerous drugs, a felony, after it was discovered that Rachael Clarke and Timothy Standiford allegedly were growing marijuana in a shop on a property Banonis was subleasing to them.

The grow operation came to light after Banonis’ daughter was attacked by the dogs on the property. Standiford and Clarke reportedly took the injured girl to meet emergency responders at Creston School before eventually taking them back to the property where it happened.

Inside a shop on the property, Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies and agents with the Northwest Drug Task Force found 71 marijuana plants, dried marijuana, grow lights and a digital scale.

If convicted, Banonis faces between two years and life in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. Standiford and Clarke pleaded not guilty on March 29.