A man who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for abandoning a 5-month-old baby in the woods of western Montana while he was high on meth and bath salts has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Francis Carlton Crowley, 34, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula. Half of his federal sentence will run at the same time as his Montana sentence and half will follow it, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Officers said Crowley had a 12-gauge shotgun with him in July 2018 when he was arrested for abandoning the baby.
At the time, he was unable to say exactly where the baby was.
About nine hours later, county and federal law enforcement officers searching in the dark found the baby, face down and partially buried under twigs and branches.
Crowley had prior felony convictions in Oregon and Washington and was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition.