Information: Federal Court Arraignments

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the following persons were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate judges and indictments handed down by the Grand Jury unsealed. Indictments are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty:

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate John T. Johnston in Great Falls on Nov. 14, 2018 and entering a Not Guilty plea was:

AARON JAMES PEPION, 38, of Browning, appeared on charges of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and ammunition. If convicted of the most serious charge in the indictment, Pepion faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release. The case was investigated by the FBI and Blackfeet Tribal law enforcement. Pacer case reference. 18-92

Appearing on Nov. 15 and entering a Not Guilty plea was:

KRIS DALE HARDING, 47, of Sun Prairie, appeared on charges of conspiracy to distribute explosives without a license, possession of stolen explosives and prohibited person in possession of explosives. If convicted of the most serious charge, Harding faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Russell Country Drug Task Force. Pacer case reference. 18-90

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan in Billings on Nov. 13 and entering a Not Guilty plea was:

JENICA D. PASSES, 30, of Crow Agency, appeared on charges of theft of government property and misappropriation of postal funds. If convicted of the most serious charge in the indictment, Passes faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years supervised release. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service. Pacer case reference. 18-127

If any of the above cases are of interest to your media organization and the community it serves, we encourage you to monitor the progress of the case regularly through the U.S. District Court calendar and the PACER system.

To establish a PACER account, which will allow you to review documents filed in the case, please go to, http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the district court’s calendar, please go to https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.

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