Alleged squatter wanted after no-show at sentencing
Ashley Katherine Coil appears in Flathead County District Court for her arraignment on a felony burglary charge on Dec. 1, 2022. (Derrick Perkins/Daily Inter Lake)
A woman accused of squatting in a vacant home outside of Columbia Falls last year is now wanted on a bench warrant and facing a felony bail jumping charge after skipping out on her sentencing last week.
Ashley Katherine Coil, 37, was expected to appear before Judge Danni Coffman on June 1 for her sentencing on a single felony count of criminal mischief. In Coil’s absence, Coffman issued a bench warrant at the behest of prosecutors and set bail at $30,000.
Coil’s defense attorney, David Mattingley, told the court he could offer no argument against the request for a warrant. Coil, he said, had a history of missing court hearings and failed to comply with an order to complete a pre-sentence investigation report.
Prosecutors also brought a new case against Coil in the wake of her absence, this time for felony bail jumping. Coil was released from custody on April 27 with the condition that she appear for all future court dates and stay in contact with her attorney, court documents said. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in Montana State Prison.
Prosecutors initially brought Coil up on a felony burglary charge after a caretaker reported seeing people coming and going from an empty home near Montana 40 in October 2022. Responding Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputies came across Coil and a man, court documents said.
Coil allegedly told deputies she was coming from a house she described as belonging to her. But a check of property records identified another individual as the owner, court documents said.
While authorities contacted the listed owner, deputies searched the home, finding signs that people had lived in it for several days, including empty bottles of alcohol, according to court documents.
The man she was accompanying told deputies Coil had invited him over to what she described as her property several nights earlier, court documents said.
Coil continued to argue that she owned the property even as authorities booked her into the Flathead County Detention Center last year.
In April, Coil struck a deal with prosecutors. In exchange for a guilty plea to criminal mischief, prosecutors agreed to recommend she receive a deferred five-year sentence and pay $2,500 in restitution.
News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.