Man facing host of state, federal charges
A Kalispell man still facing state and federal charges will be going to jail after violating the terms of deferred sentences.
Kevin Gaethle, 30, originally was given a three-year deferred sentence after pleading guilty by way of Alford to felony possession of drugs on July 26, 2007. By submitting an Alford plea, Gaethle accepted guilt while denying the facts of the case.
Three months later, he was accused of violating that sentence because he had failed to reside at an approved and known residence, failed to report to his probation officer, failed to make regular payments on his court-mandated bills, drank alcohol, frequented bars, used drugs and failed to complete a chemical dependency evaluation and treatment.
Later he was accused of possessing ammunition and pepper spray, lying to a law enforcement officer, failing to remain law abiding and using drugs. He later accrued a third violation for allegedly failing to establish an approved residence and using drugs.
During the same time period, Gaethle was the subject of another criminal case. On April 24, 2008, he pleaded guilty to felony drug possession and drug possession with intent to distribute, with a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia dropped.
In addition to his guilty plea in the new case, Gaethle admitted violating his probation. Due to the guilty plea and the admission, another charge of felony bail jumping was dismissed.
On May 29, 2008, Gaethle’s 2007 sentence was reinstated, committing him to the Montana Department of Corrections for five years. He also was given a consecutive suspended sentence of five years and a 10-year suspended sentence concurrent with both five-year sentences in the new case.
Then, in late December last year, an allegation of violations was again filed against Gaethle. On Dec. 22, he admitted those violations and his probation in the 2008 case was revoked. During Flathead District Court proceedings Thursday, Judge David Ortley reinstated Gaethle’s five-year suspended sentence to the Department of Corrections.
That reinstatement, however, is not the end of Gaethle’s legal entanglements.
Gaethle is charged with felony robbery, accountability to robbery and theft in connection with the July 6, 2011, invasion of a home in Happy Valley. Gaethle, Stephen Acton and Bradley Thompson are accused of holding a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint while the men stole a gun safe. A fourth man, Kelly Campbell, had planned to help Acton sell the guns or trade them for heroin in Portland, Ore.
On Jan. 13, the Flathead County Attorney’s Office filed to drop the charges against Gaethle in that case due to pending federal charges.
“The federal government has taken an interest in Mr. Gaethle and is contemplating an indictment of him,” Deputy County Attorney Travis Ahner said. “It was the type of situation where if the taxpayers were going to be spending money on a prosecution of Mr. Gaethle, they didn’t need to do it twice.”
The court denied that motion, so the attorney’s office filed a motion to continue while waiting for federal charges to be filed.
If the local prosecution of Gaethle goes forward, the federal government still can bring its case against him, but if the federal charges come first, the state is barred from pursuing charges based on the same incidents.
Ahner said the federal investigation of Gaethle is not yet complete and that the time frame of federal charges is contingent upon the grand jury schedule. He estimated the charges — which he said “had to do with guns and drugs” — would be filed sometime within the next 60 days.