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Date: 03-27-2024
Case Style:
Case Number: 23-CR-107
Judge: Susan P. Watters
Court: The United States District Court for the District of Montana (Yellowstone County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Billings
Defendant's Attorney:
Description:
Billings felon sentenced to more than two years in prison for illegal possession of firearm
A Billings felon was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after he admitted to illegally possessing a firearm found in a vehicle he was driving when he fled law enforcement and crashed.
The defendant, Christopher Samuel Fear, 38, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
The government alleged in court documents that on Jan. 11, 2023 after 2 a.m., a Montana Highway Patrol officer attempted a traffic stop of a vehicle for traveling 85 mph in a 65-mph speed zone. The trooper activated his emergency lights, but the vehicle fled and eventually crashed into a fence in Billings. Officers approached the vehicle and saw that it was empty. Officers noticed a pistol on the floorboard and found Fear hiding under the front end of the vehicle. Fear was on state probation at the time for a drug conviction and had an outstanding probation violation arrest warrant. Law enforcement later searched the vehicle and found 216 fentanyl pills, 20 grams of methamphetamine, baggies and a loaded .357-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Harper Suek prosecuted the case. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, Montana Highway Patrol and Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force conducted the investigation.
Outcome:
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: