District Court Judge Steven Verby today sentenced Lori Williams, 39, Kalispell, Montana, to three to seven years in prison after she pled guilty to possession of methamphetamines with intent to deliver. A misdemeanor charge of possession of paraphernalia was dismissed.
Williams, who’s been in jail since her arrest July 18, 2003, asked to be released on probation with time served, saying that since being confined, she’s earned her diploma and taken a number of Bible classes and improved her life, but Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas disagreed, saying her offense merited a stiffer penalty, and that her 35 previous arrests and convictions for multiple DUIs, and offenses including theft, battery, resisting arrest and aggravated assault made it clear that she posed a threat to others.
Williams was arrested after Bonners Ferry Police stopped a 1978 Ford van driven by Andre Blair, 39, also of Kalispell, after noticing that the vehicle didn’t have a license plate. In addition to no license plate, the vehicle was not insured. A background check revealed an outstanding $5,000 warrant for Williams issued by Kootenai County.
The presence of a small torch on the dashboard raised suspicion that the two may have been involved with drugs, and in questioning them, Blair admitted to sergeant Marty Ryan that there was a marijuana pipe in the car. As another officer led Williams to a patrol vehicle, she began crying and asked to talk to Ryan, and told him where an “eight ball” of methamphetamines and several hypodermic needles were hidden. A search turned up 7.3 grams of the drug, scales, several small baggies for packaging and other paraphernalia. At the jail, Williams confessed that they had purchased the methamphetamine in Coeur d’Alene and were returning to Kalispell to sell it, and admitted that she’d made similar trips at least twice before.
While Williams remained in jail on $20,000 bond, later reduced to $10,000, Blair was able to post bail, and he’s now wanted on an outstanding warrant.
When the arresting officer “complimented” her on how pure the meth tested, she agreed that it was the best in the Northwest. When he asked her how she was able to obtain such high quality drug, she replied, “Hell, when you’ve been doing something all your life, you get good at it!”
Douglas said he was pleased that Verby agreed with his assessment, and handed down the sentence he recommended.
“The laws controlling dangerous drugs are designed to stop exactly by the kind of conduct shown by the selfishness of Lori Williams,” he said. “Simply to turn a profit, she was willing to sell a highly addictive, destructive and dangerous drug to the community where she lives.”
Douglas said he hopes people understand that those laws need to be enforced strongly.
“Every person who gets addicted to drugs like methamphetamine is someone’s child and dear loved one,” he said. “Our goal is to send a reasonably strong message that will discourage people from selling dangerous substances to our community. With this strong sentence, I believe we’ve sent that message.”