A 50-year-old Eureka man agreed to serve between five and 40 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Tuesday.
Tracy Eugene Conard appeared in front of Judge Kathleen DeSoto to enter his guilty plea after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors earlier this month. In that plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a second firearms-related charge in exchange for the guilty plea. Conard faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and could be hit with up to $5 million in fines.
Conard was originally charged in June, seven months after investigators discovered a large quantity of illegal drugs and supplies linked to distribution inside his Eureka home. According to prosecutors, the investigation began after Conard sold methamphetamine to a law enforcement informant on Oct. 3, 2019. That incident led deputies to receive a search warrant for Conard’s home, where they found 53.6 grams of meth, 9.9 grams of black-tar heroin, three scales, hundreds of small plastic bags and “numerous firearms and ammunition” in November 2019.
Conard is scheduled to be sentenced in January.