Two of the four teens who tried to rob a cop at gunpoint last winter were sentenced to the Department of Corrections on Aug. 13.
Jacob Orion Sauls, 18, of Eureka, and Kellen McGarry, 19, of Whitefish, appeared in Flathead County District Court on Thursday, nearly seven months after they were arrested.
Sauls, who pleaded guilty to robbery earlier this year, was sentenced to 12 years with the Department of Corrections, with seven years suspended. McGarry had pleaded guilty to accountability to criminal endangerment and was sentenced to five years with the Department of Corrections. Both were given credit for time served.
Earlier this summer, Riley Landwehr, 19, of Kalispell, pleaded guilty to criminal endangerment in April and was sentenced to 10 years to the Department of Corrections with all 10 years suspended. The fourth teenager, a 14-year-old from Kalispell, was charged in juvenile court.
According to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, a Northwest Montana Drug Task Force agent responded to a Craigslist ad implying that the advertiser had methamphetamine for sale. The agent arranged to meet with the man who placed the ad at the Kmart parking lot in Evergreen at 5:45 p.m. on Jan. 6.
When the undercover agent arrived, Sauls and McGarry got into the agent’s vehicle, according to court records. Sauls told the officer that he needed the money before he could go get the methamphetamine, but the officer refused. Sauls then reached into his waistband and stated this was a “rip” and that he was robbing the agent, according to prosecutors.
The officer, fearful for his life, handed Sauls the money and Sauls and McGarry got into a vehicle driven by Landwehr and with the 14-year-old present. Moments later, other officers appeared and arrested the four teens without incident. When the searched the teens they found a loaded gun under Sauls’ belt.