BILLINGS, MT – A high-speed chase ending on the Crow Indian Reservation landed Casey Wallace Leider, 32, of Hardin, Montana, a 21-month federal prison sentence. Leider, already facing time from a Crow Tribal Court conviction, pleaded guilty in February to being a felon in possession of a firearm – a charge stemming from a July 2021 incident that involved stolen vehicles and a full-scale law enforcement pursuit.
The chase began near Lockwood, outside Billings, when Yellowstone County Sheriff’s deputies spotted Leider driving a stolen Ford F-350. Deputies pursued the truck onto the Crow Indian Reservation with authorization from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The pursuit wasn’t just a ground operation; it escalated to include police vehicles and a helicopter, according to court documents. The stolen truck finally sputtered to a halt near Pryor after leaving the roadway and becoming disabled in a field.
Leider, admitting to being high at the time of his arrest, didn’t bother concealing the evidence. A pistol was in plain sight inside the stolen vehicle. This wasn’t a first offense for Leider. He already had two prior felony convictions, making firearm possession illegal. Judge Susan P. Watters handed down the 21-month sentence, to be followed by three years of supervised release. But Leider’s legal troubles don’t end there.
The Crow Tribal Court previously sentenced Leider to 16 months in prison for offenses related to the same incident, meaning he’ll be serving a combined term of over 37 months before even beginning his supervised release. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Harper Suek prosecuted the federal case, relying on the collaborative investigation conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office.
Federal officials are framing the case as part of “Project Safe Neighborhoods” (PSN), a broad initiative aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence by uniting law enforcement at all levels with the communities they serve. The Department of Justice recently launched a strengthened PSN strategy focusing on building trust, supporting community organizations, prioritizing enforcement, and tracking results.
While the feds tout PSN, the reality on the ground remains grim. Another felon with a history of crime is off the streets, but the stolen truck, the high-speed chase, and the readily available firearm paint a picture of deeper issues plaguing Montana communities. This case, like so many others, highlights the constant struggle to keep illegal weapons out of the hands of those already prohibited from possessing them.
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