Former Libby woman gets prison time after probation miscues

The devilish effects of methamphetamine addiction have led to a prison term for a northwest Montana woman.

Five years ago, April Leann Ewing, 35, received a five-year suspended sentence in Lincoln County District Court for charges related to writing several bad checks to businesses in Libby, Troy and Noxon. 

On July 3, District Judge Matt Cuffe sentenced Ewing to a five-year term in a state Department of Corrections facility. She received credit for previously serving 91 days.

Cuffe first sentenced Ewing on June 17, 2019, and ordered her to pay restitution of $5,450.94 after she pleaded guilty on May 13, 2019.

Montana Probation and Parole Officer Kyle Hinzman, based in Flathead County, described Ewing’s efforts at rehabilitation as a “trainwreck” in a March 20, 2024, report of violation.

Hinzman said Ewing continued to use methamphetamine on a semi-regular basis and refused to engage with treatment providers. He also reported that, “she consistently engages in criminal activity and does not protect her children the way a parent should.”

Hinzman concluded, saying, “she needs to go to a long-term treatment facility such as Elkhorn Treatment Center, where, hopefully she can learn to be a productive member of society.”

He also reported Ewing lived in many different places, “couch surfed” and slept in friends’ cars and various shelters. One of the shelters, Samaritan House in Kalispell, kicked her off the premises because she was using meth while in the facility.

Hinzman’s report also detailed numerous instances of incidents violating her probations. On July 27, 2023, Kalispell police contacted Hinzman and said she was in a local casino while her children, a 14-year-old and a 6-year-old, were found outside alone  in a vehicle.

Ewing was told to report to Hinzman’s office immediately to provide a urine sample. But she didn’t and later said she was using meth and didn’t want to be arrested in front of her children.

The report also included two instances of Ewing allegedly stealing tip jars and having a glass pipe in her possession.

Hinzman also listed numerous times between Feb. 19, 2020, and Dec. 29, 2023, when Ewing’s drug patch tested positive for meth use or she admitted to using it.

According to Flathead County court records, Ewing was scheduled to appear Thursday, July 11, for arraignment on criminal possession of methamphetamine.

In the charging document, on June 4, 2024, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputy Dawson Cooper learned state Probation and Parole officers located Ewing at 31 Blazing Trail, Kalispell. She was detained on a $50,000 felony warrant in Lincoln County and Cooper was sought to arrest her.

Cooper asked Ewing how long she had been off of her anxiety medications and the accused said it had been about three months. He also asked her if she was using meth in place of her prescription meds and she allegedly said, “yeah.”

Ewing initially said the meth was hers before changing her story, court documents said.

In the first case against Ewing five years ago, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Det. Dave Hall reported on Jan. 1, 2019, receiving several non-sufficient funds checks that Lincoln County businesses turned into the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office, all of which belonged to Ewing.

Ewing wrote a $587.14 check to a business in Libby and then tried to have a “friend,” Tiffany Gorum, come back into the store to return purchased items for cash, according to the report.

The business provided security camera footage of Ewing writing her check, according to the report. After the incident, an employee approached both Ewing and Gorum, asking Ewing to return the items she had purchased.

Ewing also wrote checks, which have been returned, to a Libby business three separate times, totaling $416, while gambling at the restaurant, according to the report. Other returned checks include one for $237.87 at a feed store, a $250.36 check at a hardware store and a couple other checks at a business in Noxon.

After interviewing the owner of one business, Hall wrote that the checks Ewing cashed were to get cash for gambling. Ewing wrote bad checks from around Dec. 12, 2018, to Jan. 15, 2019.