Ex-convicts charged after local police chase
Four Montana men with lengthy criminal pasts recently were arrested in the Flathead Valley after leaving a local chemical dependency treatment center and allegedly stealing a sport-utility vehicle.
According to court documents and jail records, Charles Owen Hill, 37, of Missoula, Rand True Heath, 29, of Missoula, Trenton Jay Haughton, 35, of Hamilton, and Robert Lee Thurman Boswell, 39, each face felony charges for their respective roles in a Dec. 13 incident.
Hill and Heath were booked into the Flathead County Detention Center on Dec. 14. Both are charged with felony theft. The maximum penalty is three years in the Montana State Prison.
Hill and Heath were arraigned Dec. 31 and each pleaded not guilty. Both were released on their own recognizance Jan. 4 and ordered to return to a Columbia Falls recovery center and complete treatment.
According to Missoula County Jail roster records, Heath and Hill were booked into the jail Jan. 4 for revocation of a suspended or deferred sentence.
Haughton is charged with felony accountability to theft. The maximum penalty is three years in the Montana State Prison. He was arraigned Dec. 31 and pleaded not guilty.
Robert Lee Thurman Boswell, 39, is charged with felony accountability to theft. He has not been captured and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
ACCORDING TO charging documents, a woman reported her vehicle was stolen Dec. 13 from a gas station located on U.S. 2. Law officers saw the vehicle on Whitefish Stage Road and followed it until it stopped outside a residence on Mission Trail.
All four left the vehicle and started to run. Hill, identified as the driver, was caught by a Montana Highway Patrol trooper while Heath was arrested by a Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
Haughton was arrested by Kalispell Police officers after a short foot chase.
It was later discovered Hill, Heath, Haughton and Boswell had recently walked away from a treatment center, according to court records. Video footage from the gas station showed all four suspects together at the time of the theft, according to court documents.
The men all have criminal records.
Hill’s criminal record dates to at least 2005 when he was sentenced to 14 years in the Montana State Prison for convictions on felony criminal endangerment, theft and criminal mischief. The incidents included a police chase through cemeteries in Billings, according to a Oct. 4, 2005, story in the Billings Gazette.
According to a Feb. 27, 2019, Ravalli Republic story, Hill was charged with allegedly strangling a woman after she said she was leaving their relationship because he didn’t keep their trailer clean.
According to an April 4, 2017, story in the Missourian, Heath was charged with felony criminal endangerment and driving while under the influence of methamphetamine.
Haughton has a record of DUI offenses. Bosworth had drug possession with intent to deliver charges in Missoula County in 2012, according to a Nov. 15, 2012, story in the Missoulian.
In a Oct. 23, 2019 story in the Montana Standard, Boswell was charged with felony possession of drugs and violating his probation after a car chase in Butte.
Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 406-758-4441 or shindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.