Fishtail meth dealer gets 15 years in federal prison
A Fishtail man who ran a drug ring that involved the trafficking of 178 pounds of methamphetamine will spend 15 years in prison.
Merrill Clark Gardner, 62, was sentenced Thursday in Billings to 183 months in a federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.
He had faced maximum possible sentence of 27 years. Gardner's attorney, Larry Jent, had asked for a six years due to Gardner's "significant health problems," his age and his "sincere remorse," according to court documents.
Under a plea agreement, Gardner pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. A second count was dismissed and Gardner did not fight forfeiture proceedings, which resulted in nearly a half million dollars.
Absarokee resident Brett Clouse has also pleaded guilty in the case to being a courier and is awaiting sentencing on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
THE CASE
An indictment filed last summer charged Gardner with knowingly and unlawfully conspiring with other people to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine between January 2013 and June 2015 in Fishtail and at other locations in Montana and elsewhere.
According to court documents, investigators directed a confidential source to meet Gardner at his Fishtail home to “discuss the distribution of methamphetamine” on June 17, 2015.
As investigators watched, Gardner left his residence and returned approximately 30 minutes later with 1 ¼ pounds of methamphetamine wrapped in gray duct tape with saw dust around the outside of the tape, according to the complaint.
The confidential informant then took the methamphetamine to investigators, where a field test “yielded positive results” for the presence of methamphetamine.
The following day, June 18, investigators executed a search warrant at Gardner’s home. Another 1 ¼ pounds of methamphetamine wrapped in gray duct tape was allegedly found in Gardner’s truck when he arrived at home as the search was being conducted, according to the complaint. A field test was positive for the presence of methamphetamine.
Another Stillwater County man who was with Gardner at the time of the search told investigators he had driven Gardner to a location in Nye prior to arriving at Gardner’s home on June 18, according to the complaint.
Investigators conducted a consent search at the Nye property where they found three more packages wrapped in gray duct tape and in a large garbage can with saw dust, according to the complaint. Each one of those three packages allegedly contained 1 ¼ pounds of what field tested positive for methamphetamine. The owner of the Nye property told investigators he had allowed Gardner to store methamphetamine on his property for at least five years and had been paid by Gardner to do so between $100 and $200 per month, according to the complaint. That brings to a total 6.25 pounds of meth recovered by authorities.