Man sentenced for receiving stolen guns
A Kalispell man who received property stolen during a July 2011 armed home invasion was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court proceedings in Missoula to five years and 10 months in federal prison.
Kelly Campbell, 23, received several firearms stolen from a Hare Trail home near Whitefish during a burglary in which a 16-year-old girl was held at gunpoint.
Campbell, who previously was convicted of felony criminal distribution of dangerous drugs, is prohibited from possessing firearms and previously pleaded guilty to the federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, police stopped Campbell’s vehicle on July 8, 2011. He was arrested on a state warrant and his car was searched. The stolen firearms were found inside.
Campbell admitted he and one of the men who participated in the robbery had planned to travel to Oregon with the stolen firearms to buy drugs or trade the firearms for heroin.
In addition to his prison time, Campbell was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.
The firearms were stolen by 27-year-old Libby resident Steven Acton — allegedly with the help of Kevin Gaethle, 30, Kalispell, and Bradley Thompson, 26, Kalispell.
All three were charged with robbery, while Acton and Thompson also are charged with use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
While all three initially pleaded not guilty to their federal charges, Acton has since pleaded guilty to robbery affecting commerce and use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
He faces up to 20 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 on the robbery charge and an additional mandatory seven years for the use of a firearm. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 8.
According to Flathead District Court documents, two of the men entered the home on July 6, 2011, and approached the 16-year-old, who was sitting at a computer. They took her phone away and asked her where her father’s guns were.
The girl took them to the upstairs room where a gun safe was hidden in a closet, and one of the men searched the room while the other held a gun to her head. The two men then dragged the safe downstairs and called another man, who showed up in a car outside.
She told police that the men said they were taking her father’s guns as payment for a debt owed them by her uncle, and that they would return the guns once the debt was paid. They then loaded the safe in the car and left.
Two neighbors also witnessed parts of the crime, one seeing the men arrive at and enter the home and the other seeing them departing the neighborhood.
Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.