A former federal law enforcement officer was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $10,626 restitution after he admitted to misdemeanor assault for pointing an assault rifle at three Blackfeet tribal employees who were testing water on his property, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson announced Nov. 22.
Harrison Garrett Alvarez, 30, of Cut Bank, who was employed as a Customs and Border Protection officer but was off duty at the time of the offense, pleaded guilty in July to three counts of simple assault.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
According to court documents, on July 24, 2019, three employees of the Blackfeet Tribe’s Environmental Office were testing water in Cut Bank Creek on Alvarez’s property near Cut Bank on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
The victims, who are all tribal members, drove in a truck past Alvarez’s house to the creek. It was their fourth time visiting the testing site that season. The employees believed they had received permission for the testing from Alvarez’s wife, according to documents.
While the victims were collecting water samples, a rifle shot rang out and they saw Alvarez approaching, pointing an assault rifle at them and yelling profanities. Alvarez demanded to know what they were doing and who had given them permission to be there. When the victims explained that his wife had given them permission, Alvarez disputed that fact. After the victims told him they would leave, Alvarez, while still leveling the rifle at them, ordered them closer and demanded they drop their equipment.
At sentencing, all three victims told the court they believed Alvarez was going to shoot them and they were going to die, emphasizing how the assault affected them.
“He has taken my outdoor lifestyle away from me,” one of the victims told the court. “I don’t fish. I don’t go get wood. No more hiking. No more bow hunting. No more four-wheeling.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kalah A. Paisley prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Glacier County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services.