Two men caught flying drugs into Libby sentenced
The two Libby men authorities caught flying Spokane-sourced drugs into Lincoln County Airport on Sept. 13, 2017, were sentenced April 5 in the Russell Smith Courthouse in Missoula, court documents show.
Hugh Shawgo was sentenced to 96 months for one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and 60 months for one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, to be served consecutively. He also received five years of supervised release for each count, to be run concurrently. His fine was waived, and he was ordered to forfeit a handgun.
Michael Norton was sentenced to 78 months for one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, to be followed by five years of supervised release. His fine was waived, and he was ordered to forfeit an airplane, a rifle with high-capacity magazine and a 1999 Chevrolet Corvette.
Documents show that the court recommended Shawgo be incarcerated at Sheridan, Oregon, or Yankton, South Dakota. The court recommended Norton be incarcerated at Englewood, Colorado, or Yankton, South Dakota.
The court also stipulated that the two men not be incarcerated at the same facility. And that both be allowed to participate in a 500-hour residential drug treatment program.
According to a criminal complaint prepared by Troy Casper, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in August began investigating Shawgo for distributing methamphetamine in Western Montana. Shawgo at the time was under probation and parole supervision for a September 2015 felony conviction of operating an unlawful clandestine lab, and has at least three prior felony convictions for drug possession in Washington and Idaho.
About 4 p.m. on Sept. 13, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Detectives Nate Scofield and Brad Dodson saw Shawgo driving toward the Lincoln County Airport to, they believed from prior knowledge, fly to the Spokane area to pick up drugs and bring them back to Libby.
At about 4:45 p.m. and 7 p.m., Dodson listened to two recorded phone calls between Shawgo and a woman in Lincoln County Jail. In the first call Shawgo said they had landed in the Spokane area and were driving to the area of Airway Heights; in the second call Shawgo said he was driving “with a big ball of brown (heroin) in his hand” and that they needed “to fly out soon to get back before dark.”
At 8:15 p.m., the detectives and other agents watched a plane registered to Norton land at Lincoln County Airport. They arrested the plane’s occupants, Shawgo and Norton, without incident. After obtaining a search warrant authorities found on the plane heroin, methamphetamine, assorted prescription medication, a pistol and $906 in cash.
Investigators found that Norton twice had been arrested and once was convicted for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs.