HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – A man is facing three felony charges after authorities found over 700 grams of marijuana and four grams of methamphetamine in a pickup he was sleeping in near Havre.
Jim Dale Swick faces the felony charges of criminal possession with intent to distribute, criminal possession of dangerous drugs, and use of possession or property subject to forfeiture, as well as the misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.
Court documents allege that at around 1:30 PM on November 16th, Montana Highway Patrol Sergeant Jason Wickum was notified of an unresponsive driver in a Chevy pickup parked at the Havre truck scale at the intersection of US Highways 87 and 2.
Upon arrival, Wickum was told by a scale attendant that the truck had been there since at least 9 AM and was running the entire time. Wickum knocked on the driver side window to wake the man up. The man appeared “panicked and disoriented” and his “eyes fluttered.” Wickum detected the odor of unburnt marijuana from inside the vehicle and spoke to the driver, identified as Swick.
Swick refused medical care and told Wickum he had “smoked a little marijuana earlier in the night.” Swick then handed Wickum an orange backpack containing 707.3 grams of marijuana, 8.9 grams of marijuana concentrate and a glass methamphetamine pipe.
Swick was then arrested and Wickum searched his person, discovering a pipe in his pocket and a baggy with a white powdery substance. Both tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, with a total weight of 4 grams.
On November 16th, Tri-Agency Task Force Agent C.J. Reichelt and Hill County Deputies Steve Martin and Alex Esteves executed a search of the pickup after obtaining a warrant. They found another 1.3 grams of marijuana and a digital scale.
Swick’s arraignment is scheduled for December 14th at the Hill County Courthouse.
He has been in the Hill County Detention Center since November 16th and is being held on a $10,000 bond from the Hill County Sheriff’s Office on the charges and a $285 bond from the Montana Highway Patrol for failure to appear in Rosebud County Justice Court.
