Libby ex-con gets prison time for drug offense

A Libby man with a criminal past received a 4-year sentence to a Montana Department of Corrections facility on Monday, Oct. 23, for his most recent felony conviction.

Joshua David Hoffman, 47, who originally faced five counts, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of meth possession on Aug. 28 in Lincoln County District Court. Hoffman was involved in a police chase on the afternoon of Saturday, July 8, on Farm to Market Road.

District Judge Matt Cuffe sentenced Hoffman to the term, which was a joint recommendation between the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office and public defender Scott B. Johnson. Hoffman will receive credit for the time he has been in the county jail.

In the plea deal, misdemeanor charges of driving on a suspended license, fleeing from an officer, obstruction and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, were dropped. Hoffman remains in the Lincoln County Detention Center.

Cuffe ordered that Hoffman be screened for chemical dependency treatment to, “address a long standing issue.”

According to the probable cause statement by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Andrew Smith, he was parked when he saw a gray Dodge Durango that he recognized as one he had stopped previously with Hoffman driving. He used a monocular to identify the driver as Hoffman.

Smith wrote that he recognized the man from previous law enforcement encounters.

Smith pulled out and said his intention was to have dispatch check Hoffman’s driver’s license status. Before he made the call, Smith said he saw the Durango turn onto Frazey Court and speed up in an apparent attempt to elude the officer. Smith estimated the vehicle was driving at about 50 miles per hour on Frazey Loop. The speed limit is 25 mph.

Smith turned on his patrol vehicle’s emergency lights and siren. But Hoffman allegedly continued to flee before coming to abrupt stop, leaving the vehicle and running behind a residence.

Smith said he yelled, “Sheriff’s office, stop running,” but Hoffman kept running. Smith reported that after running through several yards, he caught up with Hoffman.

While placing handcuffs on Hoffman, Smith reported seeing a white container in the defendant’s hand as well as a syringe on the ground that the officer believed had fallen out of the container.

A subsequent field test determined a substance in the syringe was methamphetamine, according to Smith. In addition, the other half of the container Smith got off of Hoffman was found and a substance in it field tested positive for meth. A check of his driver’s license determined his privileges were currently suspended.

A 2019 story in The Western News reported Hoffman received an eight-month federal prison sentence for illegal gun possession. According to a 2004 story in the Helena Independent Record, Hoffman received a one-year federal prison term for his involvement in a drug ring that distributed methamphetamine.