Mineral County Sheriff's deputy makes big drug bust

It was in the early hours of Halloween morning, Oct. 31, when an eastbound crew cab pickup was on Interstate 90 barely into Montana when a Mineral County Sheriff's deputy flipped on his red and blue lights because the vehicle was going over the speed limit.

Pulling up behind it he saw it was from Washington, so he walked up to the driver’s side and asked for the driver's license and registration.

Despite the fact the driver had 20.47 pounds of packaged and ready to sale marijuana, still illegal to possess without proper licensing, he was friendly and cooperative.

A black and yellow tote was so stuffed with packages of marijuana that some of it was hanging outside under the lid.

While the man was cooperative, he nonetheless refused to allow the deputy to search his vehicle. Therefore, the vehicle was impounded, and a search warrant was issued the next morning.

That is when the officers found the rest of the marijuana packed up to the top of the tote. The driver was en route to Helena with the weed and from there, who knows where it would have gone but the deal went south, and felony charges are pending.

Proud of his deputies for the way the situation was handled, Sheriff Mike Toth grinned as he said, “Just like the old western movies, but it’s actually a quote I heard from Shaun Donovan, ‘Head ‘em off at the pass, which is what they did as it was so close to Look Out.'

"Mineral County is the front line of drugs coming from the coast and there’s a good chance that this much marijuana when distributed, some would have made it back to our communities.”