Richard Lee Clark, Drug Trafficking, Montana 2016

Grimy Times Investigates: Belgrade Man Sentenced to Prison for Drug Offense

MISSOULA – In a shocking revelation, Richard Lee Clark, a 59-year-old resident of Belgrade, Montana, was sentenced to 60 months in prison followed by four years supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

According to a confidential informant, Clark was involved in a methamphetamine trafficking scheme that spanned several months. The informant reported purchasing methamphetamine from Shannon Leavitt, Clark’s daughter, on multiple occasions. The informant and Leavitt would meet at her father’s house to pick up the methamphetamine, with Leavitt bragging about her business of dealing meth with her father.

Further investigation revealed that methamphetamine was being shipped through the United States Mail to the Clark/Leavitt address. A K9 from the Bozeman Police Department sniffed out an express mail package containing a candle and a tennis ball, which authorities later discovered to contain 10.4 grams of methamphetamine hidden inside the tennis ball and 29.1 grams of methamphetamine hidden inside the hollowed-out candle.

Leavitt was interviewed and admitted her role in the conspiracy, stating she received an ounce of methamphetamine a week for the past month from her source in Salt Lake City. Clark also confessed to getting methamphetamine from the same source and claimed to have ordered four-ounce packages of methamphetamine himself.

Clark was held accountable for a total of 158.2 grams of methamphetamine, which amounts to 1,265 individual doses of the drug. This case is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program aimed at reducing violent crime and making neighborhoods safer.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan R. Whittaker and investigated by the FBI, Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, Bozeman Police Department, and the Missouri River Drug Task Force.

Shannon Leavitt has also pled guilty to her role in the drug conspiracy and was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment on January 19, 2018.

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