Sigea sentenced for possession charges

Dylan Tanner Sigea will serve three years of a five-year sentence after being caught by law enforcement with a plethora of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia in 2018.

Lincoln County District Court Judge Matthew Cuffe handed down the sentence Dec. 16. A jury found Sigea, 19, of Libby, guilty on counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia Nov. 6.

As part of his sentence, Sigea must undergo substance abuse treatment while incarcerated.

“This is the best option to get help at a young age and not spiral any farther,” Cuffe told Sigea at his sentencing hearing.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Sigea in May 2018 after stopping a vehicle known to frequent drug houses, according to court documents.

Deputy Brandon Holzer wrote in an affidavit that he pulled the Jeep over after spotting it traveling along U.S. Highway 2 with a broken taillight. Holzer said that he had warned the driver about the taillight just days before.

After stopping the vehicle, Holzer told the driver that authorities had seen the Jeep parked at casinos and drug houses. She admitted to using methamphetamine in the past, Holzer wrote, but said she had abstained for months.

When asked, the driver consented to a search of the vehicle, according to the affidavit. Several passengers emerged, including Sigea, court documents said. Then 17-years-old, Sigea seemed aggravated and extremely nervous, Holzer recalled.

He wanted to take his backpack from the vehicle, Holzer wrote, even after he was assured authorities would not search it.

Holzer, by then joined by then-detective Brad Dodson, found a blue pouch on the backseat floor of the Jeep. When he opened it, he found a plastic vial with a crystal-like substance consistent with methamphetamine, court documents said.

Authorities arrested Sigea after he admitted the pouch was his, court documents said.

He remained adamant, though, that deputies not search his backpack, according to Holzer.

Authorities seized the backpack as well as a gun case and another bag despite his opposition, according to court documents

In a separate affidavit, Dodson wrote that he knew of Sigea from “confidential sources” and that “[Sigea] smokes marijuana and is believed to sell marijuana and pills.”

Along with the vial, a search of Sigea’s belongings turned up a bong converted out of a liquor bottle, marijuana pipes, baggies, two meth pipes, two glass stems coated with residue, a Tylenol bottle filled with suspected drugs, two mirrors with residue, a butane torch, an oven mitt and several containers with baggies of what appeared to be methamphetamine.

After an unsuccessful attempt by his lawyer to have the case moved to Youth Court, Sigea initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. He later entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors.

In exchange for his pleading guilty to criminal possession of dangerous drugs, prosecutors dropped the criminal possession of drug paraphernalia charge. Prosecutors planned to recommend Sigea receive a deferred three-year sentence for the crime

But when Sigea failed to show up to his sentencing hearing earlier this year, the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest and indicated it would not follow the guidelines in the agreement.

Sigea withdrew his plea and the case went to trial. Jurors subsequently convicted Sigea on both charges.

Sigea will also serve a concurrent six-month sentence at the Lincoln County Detention Center. He received credit for time served.