Missoula Weekly Crime Report: One Woman Used a Sword as a Weapon

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office charged 19 new criminal complaints this week. However, County Attorney Kirsten Pabst said some of those charges were not in custody charges.

“In the administrative crimes category, we charged one obstructing a peace officer or public servant case,” Pabst said. “In the drug category, we charged three new felony cases. One was a possession of meth and heroin. In another, the defendant was charged with possession of meth. He allegedly dropped a baggie and had another baggie sticking out of his pocket in plain view. He had yet another baggie on his person when he was booked into the jail.”

In the third drug case, the defendant was charged with possession of meth after being stopped for a suspected shoplifting at the mall.

“In the property crimes category, we were getting caught up and charged six new cases,” Pabst said. “Almost all of those were theft cases. There were a couple criminal mischief cases and a theft of labor or services case. In the endangerment crimes category, we charged four new felony cases and two of those were felony DUI cases.”

There was also a criminal endangerment case that involved fleeing or eluding a peace officer. In that case, the defendant allegedly stole a vehicle and led police on a high-speed chase.

Pabst said her office also charged five new cases that involved some form of violence.

“Three of those were interpersonal violence cases,” Pabst said. “One was a partner or family member assault. In another, we charged assault with a weapon, aggravated burglary, and partner or family member assault. In that case, the defendant allegedly hit, bit, and tried to kick the victim in the groin as the victim was defending himself. When the victim tried to speak to her, she allegedly grabbed a sword and struck him with the sword.”

Pabst said it was a busy week for her office, but she said a lot of it was getting caught up on some backlog.