Accused drug dealer sentenced to state Department of Corrections

An accused methamphetamine dealer who spent years dodging the court system received multiple sentences in November to the state Department of Corrections. 

Judge Dan Wilson handed down a five-year sentence to Jeffrey Duane Portmann, 55, for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and another two years, suspended, for bail jumping in Flathead County District Court on Nov. 9. Although Portmann initially faced a drug distribution charge in the case, which was opened in 2017, he took a plea deal in September that saw prosecutors amend it. 

Wilson ordered the two sentences to run concurrently, and gave Portmann credit for 147 days of time served in the drug possession case and 145 days of time served in the bail jumping case. He also ordered Portmann to pay court fines and fees.

Prosecutors brought the initial drug case against Portmann after he allegedly sold an eight ball of methamphetamine to an undercover law enforcement agent working with the Kalispell Police Department in March 2017. Investigators arranged the controlled buy with help from a confidential informant with a history of trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine in Flathead County, court documents said. 

After pleading not guilty at his September 2019 arraignment, Portmann dropped off the map, according to district court records. Following his absence from a March 2020 pretrial conference, prosecutors brought the bail jumping charge against him. 

Authorities caught up with Portmann in the spring of 2023, hauling him back before a Flathead County judge in May. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.