Man sentenced for dealing heroin

A Kalispell man will serve five years with the Montana Department of Corrections for dealing heroin last year.

Christopher Brandon Eby, 30, was sentenced on Thursday by Flathead District Judge David Ortley to 15 years with the Montana Department of Corrections, with 10 years suspended. Ortley followed the recommendations of a plea agreement in which Eby agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs.

Eby was arrested after he sold a gram of heroin to a confidential informant in September 2015 at a casino in Kalispell. Eby gave the buyer the $280 worth of heroin that was concealed in the battery compartment of an electric razor.

Ortley recommended that Eby be placed in a treatment facility and noted that Eby told a pre-sentence investigator that he thinks he needs help.

Eby already has had one second chance for bad behavior. He was given a deferred three-year sentence for forgery and a concurrent, suspended six-month sentence for theft in August 2012 after he and his younger brother went on a theft spree.

The brothers stole two saws, five purses and their contents, two wallets, an iPod, a cellphone and a laptop, forged more than $4,500 worth of checks from 12 accounts and spent more than $150 on a stolen credit card between April and August 2007.

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