Ex-con accused of bringing fentanyl into Lincoln Co.

A Libby woman with a criminal past is accused of trying to bring fentanyl into Lincoln County.

Salli Suzanne Bosma, 39, appeared in District Court on Sept. 25 and pleaded not guilty to one felony count of dangerous drugs with the intent to distribute and one felony count of evidence tampering.

Bosma is being held in the county jail on $75,000 bail.

According to the probable cause statement filed by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office investigator Brandon Holzer, he wrote a search warrant application for Bosma, a vehicle and one other person on Sept. 7 after receiving credible information that she was traveling to Kalispell to buy a large amount of Mexi blue, also known as fentanyl pills.

Deputy Ben Fisher saw the vehicle, a 2015 white Honda Accord, that Holzer had a warrant to search and stopped it at the intersection of U.S. 2 and E. Spruce Street in Libby.

Deputy John Hyslop deployed K-9 Bear and the dog alerted to the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle, according to Holzer’s report. When the vehicle was searched, tinfoil with a partially smoked fentanyl pill was found.

Bosma was taken to the county jail and searched by a female detention officer. The officer reported finding 43 fentanyl pills in Bosma’s bra.

Holzer did a field test on the pills and they tested positive for fentanyl.

Four years ago, Bosma faced drug smuggling charges in Lincoln County when she was accused of trying to bring morphine and opiates into the county jail on two separate occasions.

She pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs and received a 3-year sentence to a state Department of Corrections facility.

In 2020, Bosma, along with Shane Mundale, was charged with a number of misdemeanors due to alleged game and fish law violations, including the illegal taking of game animals and a rainbow trout. She pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a game fish and hunting without a valid license. She received six-month suspended sentences on both counts and had to pay more than $600 in fines and fees. Mundale pleaded guilty to hunting, fishing and trapping without a license and unlawful possession of a furbearer. He also received a six-month suspended sentence and had to pay more than $3,100 in restitution, fines and fees.

On the current charges, Bosma faces a maximum term of 20 years in the Montana State Prison for intent to distribute and 10 years on the tampering.