Wilkes pleads not guilty to new charges

A local man arrested after detectives broke up a drug ring over the summer has pleaded not guilty to new charges in Lincoln County District Court.

Tyler Jay Wilkes, 32, faces two felony counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and a misdemeanor count of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. The charges stem from his December arrest and echo those he racked up over the summer. He was arraigned Dec. 27.

A new narrative attached to an affidavit filed in district court Dec. 14 revealed more details about the circumstances of Wilkes’ arrest at a local lodging house. In it, Libby Police officer Ian Smith recounted being summoned to the inn about 8:43 a.m. by an employee, who reported finding a baggie of methamphetamine in the lobby. The employee told authorities he had surveillance footage of the individual that dropped the drugs.

When Smith arrived on scene, the employee turned over the baggie and played the recording. The two watched a man, which the employee identified as Wilkes, opening the door to the lobby. As he pulled a hand out of his jacket pocket, a small baggie fell out, court documents said.

After making a copy of the video, Smith had the substance in the baggie tested. It came back presumptively positive for methamphetamine. Smith weighed the substance, determining that it was roughly .057 of a gram, according to court documents.

Knowing that Wilkes was on pretrial supervision following his August arrest on criminal possession of dangerous drugs and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, Smith contacted his probation officer. She told Smith to arrest Wilkes on her authority.

Smith also called Libby Police Chief Scott Kessel, telling him about the test results on the substance in the bag. Kessel likewise instructed Smith to make an arrest. Smith then arranged for the inn employee to contact him when Wilkes, who was still checked into the lodging house, returned.

About 10:14 a.m., the employee called Smith and told him Wilkes was back. With backup from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Smith returned to the lodging house. He spotted Wilkes in the driver’s seat of a van, wearing the same clothing as seen on the surveillance footage, court documents said.

Smith saw that Wilkes had spotted his vehicle. He allegedly began digging in the seat and console of the van “consistent with drug users trying to hide items,” Smith wrote. Smith also noticed a woman walking around Wilkes’ van.

Approaching the pair, Smith told Wilkes the two needed to talk and placed him in handcuffs. During the arrest, Wilkes denied having drugs on him. But a subsequent search turned up a glass pipe in the pocket of his pants, court documents said.

Smith described the pipe as wrapped in a piece of toilet paper and containing white and brown residue. He tested the pipe, which came back presumptively positive for methamphetamine.

“Oh my God,” Wilkes allegedly said during the discovery of the pipe. He later turned to another law enforcement officer and said, “I guess I had another pipe on me,” court documents said.

Smith told Wilkes he was going to ask for a warrant to search his van.

“I’m so [expletive],” Wilkes allegedly said.

In the meantime, the woman with Wilkes asked to go back into the lodging house to get a few items from her room. She returned from the errand and asked to get her mobile phone from her purse, which was still in Wilkes’ vehicle.

Smith offered to retrieve the cell phone for her, according to court documents. She agreed, and while he was going through her purse, Smith allegedly spotted syringes. Still, he let her depart the scene.

Wilkes demanded to know why the lawmen let the woman walk away, court documents said. He asked to speak with Detective Brandon Holzer of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

About that time, the lodging house employee returned and reported finding a bong in the toilet of Wilkes’ room. Smith inspected the bathroom and took photos of the alleged bong before securing it as evidence. Then he took a handcuffed Wilkes to the sheriff’s office, court documents said.

Wilkes later told Smith there were no drugs in the van, according to the affidavit. Smith responded by describing the surveillance video footage. Wilkes admitted to later looking for the bag, but said it belonged to the woman the lawmen released from the scene. He told Smith that the woman had more methamphetamine on her as well as needles, baggies and a scale, court documents said.

Smith eventually turned Wilkes over to Holzer. After receiving a search warrant for the van, Smith and Holzer went through the vehicle. They found .8 gram of a substance that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine and .33 gram of suspected heroin, court documents said. They also found multiple pills, various bags and an electronic scale, according to Smith’s account.

Wilkes is due back in court March 14 for an omnibus hearing with a pretrial conference to follow on April 11. Were the case to go to trial, it would begin May 17.