Bigfork teen pleads guilty in theft case stemming from crime spree

A Bigfork teen already on probation for driving drunk and leading police on a chase admitted Thursday to committing a string of crimes in October.

Harland Robert Jordan, 18, pleaded guilty in Flathead District Court to misdemeanor theft for taking a four-wheeler from Three Mile Drive in Kalispell on Oct. 13.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have agreed to recommend a six-month suspended jail sentence.

They have asked for the sentence to run concurrent with two six-year suspended sentences for felony burglary.

Jordan pleaded guilty to both burglary charges and admitted that he burglarized an Egan Slough home and Kalispell automotive repair business with three other men on Oct. 26.

The thieves were caught trying to pawn their loot in Kalispell later that day.

Prosecutors dropped another charge that resulted from the burglary spree.

In that count, Jordan had allegedly broken into the Creston Business Center to gain access to his foster father’s vehicle.  

The plea agreement calls for the burglary sentences to run consecutive to a three-year commitment with the Department of Corrections that was handed down in a revocation hearing. Jordan admitted that his new crimes had broken terms of probation for a felony criminal endangerment conviction from July 30, 2015.

That conviction resulted after Jordan led police on a 90-mph chase after officers tried to stop him for stealing from a convenience store on West Idaho Street in Kalispell. Deputies were able to use spike strips to stop Jordan near the intersection of Airport Road and Rocky Cliff.

Jordan’s vehicle crashed into a deputy’s patrol car at the end of the chase. Jordan’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.143. The legal limit is 0.08.

On Thursday Jordan also admitted that opiates and marijuana were found in his possession when he was booked into jail, which violated of terms of his probation.

Jordan agreed to pay restitution for his crimes and also for bad checks that were written in his name. Jordan’s attorney Jessica Polan said most of the checks were written while Jordan was incarcerated, which is why a felony charge of issuing a bad check was dropped.

“You didn’t do it,” Polan said of the check- writing scheme.

Jordan is set to be sentenced in April. Flathead District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht warned him against getting into more trouble until then.  

“I can take into account any behavior that occurs between now and sentencing,” Ulbricht.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.