Guinard given three-year sentence

Levi Robert Guinard, 41, of Troy will serve a three-year sentence for a felony charge of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs.

Lincoln County District Court Judge Matthew Cuffe handed down the sentence Oct. 28 after Guinard reached a plea deal with prosecutors. The maximum penalty for his charge is 25 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Authorities arrested Guinard over the summer after he facilitated a drug buy for a law enforcement informant. On Aug. 7, Guinard took the informant to Chapel Cedar Mill in Troy to purchase 30 hits of LSD for $340, according to the affidavit.

Once there, Guinard exited the vehicle talk with Jack Hamilton, whom he listed as his source, court documents said. After returning with the hallucinogens, Guinard collected the money from the informant and gave it to Hamilton, court documents said.

Law enforcement officials arrested Guinard after he returned from the completed transaction. He told authorities he had been paid in LSD for arranging the transaction, wrote Deputy Brandon Holzer of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in the affidavit.

Hamilton, who at the time had just received a three-year suspended sentence for drug possession, was later charged with criminal distribution of dangerous drugs. The two men appeared in court together in September.

Guinard previously faced drug charges earlier in 2019. He is listed on the Montana Department of Justice’s website as a level 2 sex offender.

At the sentencing hearing, Cuffe said imprisonment would give Guinard another chance at treatment for substance abuse.