Informational: Federal Court arraignments

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the following persons were arraigned or appeared recently 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 Sept. 20 was:

Rafe Aaron Camp, 38, of Miles City, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute meth and distribution of meth. If convicted of the most serious crime, Camp faces a mandatory minimum five years to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and at least four years of supervised release. Camp was detained pending further proceedings. The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-96.

Elmer Richard Petersen, 44, of Gillette, Wyoming, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, possession of firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Petersen faces a mandatory minimum 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release on the conspiracy charge and a mandatory minimum five years to life, consecutive to any other sentence, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release on the charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. Petersen was detained pending further proceedings. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-91.

Appearing on Sept. 15 was:

Ethan Andrew Schilling, 25, of Billings, on charges of distribution of child pornography. If convicted of the most serious crime, Schilling faces a mandatory minimum of five years to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Schilling was released pending further proceedings. The FBI investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-92.

The progress of cases may be monitored through the U.S. District Court Calendar and the PACER system. To establish a PACER account, which provides electronic access to review documents filed in a case, please visit http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the District Court’s calendar, please visit https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.

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