Couple facing multiple theft charges after alleged theft

A couple is facing more than a dozen felony charges in Oregon and Flathead District Court after allegedly getting caught in Oregon with more than $30,000 worth of property from a residence off Prairie View Road near Kalispell.

Baltimore Leon Carper, 35, is facing one count of felony burglary and one count of felony theft in Flathead County, according to court documents. His wife, Amanda Renee Carper, 29, is facing one felony count of accountability to burglary in Flathead County. Each is facing a count of possession of methamphetamine, two counts of possessing short barrel firearms and 10 counts of theft in Oregon.

“There’s page after page after page of listed stolen property,” Wallowa County Sheriff Steve Rogers said of the case. The case report is almost book-length, he added.

Rogers’ deputies and Oregon State Police began monitoring a property in Wallowa around May 11 after the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office received information the couple might be there with property that was stolen from a residence on April 17. The couple had been kicked out of the home, which belonged to a relative, earlier this spring.

Some of the stolen property was allegedly pawned by Baltimore Carper on April 28, but authorities believed the pair had fled to Oregon.

Deputies and Oregon State Police stopped the couple on May 12 outside of Wallowa. They were allegedly driving a van that was pulling a trailer that was believed to have been stolen.

“They moved with a piece of stolen property in plain view,” Rogers said.

Wallowa County Chief Deputy Fred Steen was tasked with sorting through the guns in the vehicle, which totaled seven or eight.

He also located a container of suspected drugs that had not been concealed.

“There was suspected meth found,” Steen said. “It was found in a small container, mainly just for personal use amounts, in crystalline form.”

Steen said Baltimore Carper led authorities to a property 10 or 12 miles away where the rest of the property was retrieved.

“They had over 20 guns and all kinds of stolen property,” Rogers said. “We recovered a significant amount of firearms and stolen property, but I don’t think we got everything.”

Court documents say firearms, electronics, tools, money, motorcycles, hunting gear and a 24-feet-long enclosed trailer were all missing from the property.

The pair are being housed in a jail in Umatilla County, Oregon. Rogers said it is likely the pair will soon be extradited to Montana, but he was not certain if that is how the process will unfold.

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