Alleged dognapper given suspended sentences

A Kalispell woman brought up on felony charges after a confrontation over an allegedly abducted dog in 2023 received a pair of suspended sentences in Flathead County District Court earlier this year.

Ashley Nicole Smith, 38, faced counts of criminal mischief and criminal possession of dangerous drugs after allegedly ramming her ex-boyfriend's vehicle and threatening him with a gun in Kalispell on Sept. 23, 2023. She pleaded guilty to both in Flathead County District Court in January after striking a deal with prosecutors.  

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to recommended she serve a pair of five-year suspended sentences with the state Department of Corrections. Judge Dan Wilson, who presided over the case, stuck to the terms of the deal at Smith's March 14 sentencing. 

Wilson ordered that the two sentences run concurrently, and that Smith receive 109 days of credit for time served.  

Kalispell Police officers arrested Smith after responding to a report of a motor vehicle accident on the 500 block of Ninth Avenue West that had turned into an armed confrontation, according to court documents. Smith allegedly rammed the victim's car, causing an estimated $1,500 in damage, before threatening him with a gun.  

The confrontation stemmed from the alleged abduction of a dog. The victim told authorities that Smith had previously taken the dog of a mutual friend, who was in the hospital, to a Lore Lake Road house. That resident had phoned the victim earlier in the morning, saying a woman had come by the house and stole away with the animal, according to court documents.  

Suspecting Smith, the victim drove to her home on Kalispell's west end and spotted her in her Dodge pickup with the missing dog, court documents said. Smith allegedly became angry.   

Authorities who searched Smith following her arrest found a glass pipe with white residue and a plastic bag containing a crystalline substance, which was suspected of being methamphetamine, according to court documents.