Kelso sentenced to five years

A Troy man arrested in May after absconding from probation last fall won’t get another shot at probation, District Judge James Wheelis ruled on Monday.

Jason Dale Kelso, 37, pleaded guilty in 2014 to one count of felony drug possession and two counts of bail jumping and was sentenced in October to three years probation on the drug charge with a consecutive probationary term of two years on the bail jumping charges. After meeting with his probation officer on the day of his sentencing he failed to make any further contact, and he was charged in December with violating probation.

Kelso was arrested last month by the Special Response Team of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office at a residence near Bull Lake, where he was found hiding in a bathroom.

In court on Monday, Kelso admitted to absconding from probation but denied other violations, including one stemming from the discovery of drugs and guns in his truck after it was seized in April, while he was still at large.

Kelso asked for another probationary sentence and requested that he be transferred to Idaho for supervision. He testified that his wife lives in Idaho and that he wants to be able to live there and offer her assistance.

“I learned my lesson,” he said, promising not to abscond again.

The drug charge against Kelso had been filed following a traffic stop in 2013, when he was found to be in possession of methamphetamine. The bail jumping charges were filed in 2014 after Kelso failed to appear in court on the drug case.

Lincoln County Attorney Bernie Cassidy opposed Kelso’s request and recommended a three-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections for the drug offense with a consecutive two years on the bail jumping charges. The recommendation was backed up by a report from probation officer Darrell Vanderhoef, who testified that he would not expect Idaho to accept Kelso for supervision due to his history of bail jumping and absconding.

In arguing for another probationary sentence, Kelso’s attorney, William Managhan, said that someone else had moved Kelso’s truck before it was seized and found to contain drugs and firearms. He said Kelso claimed the items did not belong to him.

Vanderhoef disputed that claim from the witness stand. Under questioning from Managhan, Vanderhoef testified that while Kelso had not been driving the truck when it was seized, Kelso had acknowledged that the contents were his.

“After his arrest he admitted that the backpacks, the guns, all of that stuff belonged to him,” Vanderhoef said.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Managhan said.

Wheelis followed the recommendation from Cassidy and Vanderhoef and sentenced Kelso to a three-year term with the Department of Corrections on the drug charge and two two-year terms on the bail jumping charges, concurrent with each other but consecutive to the sentence on the drug charge, for a total of five years.