Libby woman pleads not guilty to drug possession

A Libby woman is in custody on drug charges after a manhunt for her boyfriend last month.

Katherine Hoffman Mutrie, 42, is charged with criminal possession of dangerous drugs and obstruction. She appeared in Lincoln County District Court on Sept. 25 and pleaded not guilty to both offenses. Her next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 27.

Mutrie is free after posting $10,000 bail on Sept. 29.

According to a probable cause statement by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Boyd White, Montana Probation and Parole officers contacted the county Dispatch Center because they had been in a foot chase with Shane Mundale in the Cedar Hill Road area. Mundale is wanted for violating his probation.

White met with Probation Officer Steve Watson who was speaking with Mutrie in a cabin on Cedar Hill Road. Mutrie was arrested for probation violations and taken to the county jail.

Watson later learned from White that detention officers reported finding a Oxycodone Hydrochloride pill in Mutrie’s coin purse. The pill is a Schedule 2 narcotic.

Mutrie faces five years in the Montana State Prison if convicted on the possession charge. On the obstruction charge, she faces a 10-year sentence.