Amos receives concurrent sentence

A Libby man sentenced earlier this month for his involvement in a pair of vehicle thefts has another felony on his record following action Monday in district court.

Kevin James Amos, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of dangerous drugs and received a five-year sentence with the Montana Department of Corrections, which will run concurrently with a similar sentence he received in the vehicle theft case. The sentence is in accordance with a plea agreement that also included the dismissal of two additional counts of distribution of dangerous drugs.

Amos and a co-defendant, Ryan Carpenter, were charged in the thefts of a 1997 Dodge truck belonging to Cabinet Peaks Medical Center and a 1999 Chevrolet truck belonging to North Fork Forestry last September. Both vehicles were recovered a few days after the thefts. The truck belonging to the hospital was found wrecked along Cherry Creek Road, and the North Fork Forestry truck, which was loaded with firewood, was located in the yard of a Libby man who reported that Carpenter had offered to sell him a load of firewood, then abandoned the truck at his residence without unloading it.

According to an investigating officer’s report, registration and insurance papers from the North Fork Forestry truck were found inside the wrecked truck belonging to the hospital, linking the two thefts.

Carpenter pleaded guilty in to two counts of felony theft by accountability and also received a five-year commitment to the Department of Corrections.

The drug charges against Amos were filed after he allegedly sold methamphetamine to an informant working for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on three occasions in January and February of this year.

During Amos’ sentencing hearing on the theft and criminal mischief charges on June 1, Judge James Wheelis rejected a recommendation from the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office for a deferred sentence but said he would go along with a probation officer’s recommendation for a five-year commitment to the Department of Corrections, and Amos agreed to accept the sentence rather than withdraw his plea and go to trial.