Man sentenced for fraudulent use of credit card

A Northwest Montana man who pleaded guilty to the fraudulent use of a credit card was sentenced Monday, Feb. 12, in Lincoln County District Court.

Logan Jay Michael Deuel, 33, of Marion, was charged with one felony count of theft and one felony count of deceptive practices. The second count was dismissed as part of a plea bargain.

Deuel pleaded guilty to theft on Monday, Dec. 11, in District Court. He will owe $9,780.22 in restitution.

Judge Matt Cuffe stuck with the joint recommendation of county Attorney Marcia Boris and public defender Ben Kolter in sentencing Deuel to a five-year deferred term. The defendant was given credit for serving 54 days in the county jail.

Cuffe, at the request of Kolter, waived the public defender fee due to the significant amount of restitution owed. Deuel said he would be able to make payments for the restitution at a hearing in December.

Deuel was accused of fraudulently using a Lincoln County man’s credit card to make nearly $10,000 in unauthorized purchases.

According to a supplemental narrative by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Detective David Hall, he received a case from patrol on June 12 regarding the alleged victim. The man told Lincoln County Credit Union employees that his credit card was used in Flathead and Lake counties from May 27 through May 30 for nearly $10,000 in purchases. 

The credit union provided the man with a new card and reimbursed him $9,610.22.

Det. Hall asked Kalispell Police Department Det. Brady Gray to check multiple big box stores in the city to try and identify a suspect. Det. Gray was able to identify Deuel from security footage at one of the stores where Deuel allegedly made several purchases at Best Buy on May 29 with the Lincoln County man’s credit card. Gray identified Deuel by prior booking photos at the Flathead County Jail, according to the charging document.

Gray also received copies of three receipts for purchases Deuel allegedly made at Home Depot on May 29 for more than $2,100.

Gray also told Det. Hall that he has a case with Deuel in which the defendant is accused of stealing mail, forged checks, printing checks and making fake IDs.

In addition, Det. Hall reported that Deuel had allegedly stolen the identity of a Black man from Indiana. Hall wrote in his report that Deuel was using the man’s ID to sell property at pawn shops in Kalispell. Hall researched pawn shop records and saw transactions involving the alleged victim from 2015 to 2019. 

According to Gray’s report, the investigators thought Deuel may have obtained credit card information of the alleged victim of the thefts and created another card with the man’s information on it.

Then, on July 5, Gray received surveillance footage and receipts from Walmart. There were two transactions on May 28 for a number of items for more than $730.

Deuel originally faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in the Montana State Prison.