Informational: Federal Court arraignments

 The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the following persons were arraigned or appeared this week before U.S. Magistrate judges on indictments handed down by the Grand Jury or on criminal complaints. The charging documents are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty:

Appearing in Billings before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan and pleading not guilty on May 20 was:

Christopher Lee Minor, 33, of Billings, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Minor faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Minor was detained. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Pacer case reference. 19-72.

Appearing on May 21:

Matthew Robert-Jefferson Miller, 31, of Billings, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Miller faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Miller was detained. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Pacer case reference. 19-71.

Thomas Kent Stevens, 29, of Billings, on charges of production of child pornography and possession of child porn. If convicted of the most serious crime, Stevens faces a minimum 15 years to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Stevens was detained. The case was investigated by the FBI. Pacer case reference. 19-55.

Appearing in Great Falls before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston and pleading not guilty on May 22 was:

Christopher Harwood Mason, 55, of Browning, on charges of assault by striking, beating or wounding. If convicted of the most serious crime, Mason faces a maximum one year in prison, a $100,000 fine and one year of supervised release. Mason was released pending further proceedings. The case was investigated by the Glacier County Sheriff’s Office and the Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services. Pacer case reference. 19-31.

Appearing before U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris and pleading not guilty on May 23 was:

Pascasio Proano-Dominguez, 48, of Mexico, on charges of illegal reentry. If convicted of the most serious crime, Proano-Dominguez faces a maximum two years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He was detained pending further proceedings. The case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Pacer case reference. 19-39.

Appearing in Missoula before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch on a complaint on May 20 was:

Robert David Barclay Jr., of Pocatello, Idaho, on charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. If convicted of the most serious crime, Barclay faces a minimum mandatory five years to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and four years of supervised release.  Barclay was detained pending further proceedings. The case was investigated by the Missouri River Drug Task Force and the FBI’s Montana Regional Violent Crime Task Force. Pacer case reference. 19-34.

Appearing on May 22 was:

Barbara Brown, 29, of Missoula, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute meth and possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense. If convicted of the most serious crime, Brown faces a minimum mandatory 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and a minimum five years of supervised release. Brown was detained pending further proceedings. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations and the Missoula High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force. Pacer case reference. 19-23.

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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