Page 15 - Flathead Beacon // 10.28.15

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IDAHO STREET BANK
233 E Idaho St. Kalispell, MT 59901 755-4271
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Fifth Sex Sting Suspect Sentenced
A Kalispell man was an eight-year suspended sentence to the Department of Corrections a year after he was caught trying to have sex with an underage girl who turned out to be an undercover cop.
Justin Allen Zeiss, 35, was sentenced before Judge David M. Ortley in Flathead County District Court on Oct. 22 after pleading Alford to felony sexual assault of children. An Alford plea is where a defen- dant does not admit guilt but acknowl- edges that prosecutors have enough evi- dence to persuade a judge or jury of guilt.
Zeiss was one of six local men captured during a sex sting run by the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in August 2014. Zeiss is the fifth to be sentenced this fall. The sixth suspect, Christopher Paul Adams, is scheduled to go to trial this winter.
As part of his punishment, Zeiss will have to register as a Level I sex offender.
According to court documents, Zeiss responded to an ad offering a 12-year-old girl for sex in August 2014. He eventu- ally started speaking on the phone with an undercover agent posing as the girl’s stepmother. Prosecutors say he told the agent “he respected that the woman was trying to arrange an enjoyable sex- ual experience for her 12-year-old step- daughter,” and it’s “worth doing right. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” He also allegedly said he saw his participation as an “honor.”
Agents instructed Zeiss to meet at a Kalispell location, but he asked the agent to meet him outside. They spoke, and the agent said Zeiss discussed having sex with the girl. He was arrested soon after and charged with sexual assault of children.
Whitefish Man Accused of Assaulting Girlfriend
A Whitefish man pleaded not guilty to charges of felony criminal endanger- ment and misdemeanor partner assault, a month after getting into a heated alter- cation with his girlfriend.
Boris Meier appeared before Judge David M. Ortley in Flathead County Dis- trict Court on Oct. 22.
According to court documents, Meier and his girlfriend had gotten into a verbal altercation at their apartment in White- fish. During the fight, Meier grabbed a revolver, put one cartridge in the cylinder and spun it. Meier then held the woman down while pointing the gun at his own head.
The woman was able to escape Meier’s grip and the residence, at which point she heard a single gunshot from inside the apartment. The woman returned expect- ing to find that Meier had shot himself but instead he had shot ceiling of their bed- room. Meier then approached the woman and she turned and ran down the road. A passerby picked her up and took her to
the police department. Whitefish Police Department officers then responded to the apartment and made contact with Meier. While in the residence they observed a single bullet hole in the ceil- ing. Officers talked to the upstairs neigh- bors who said they had heard Meier and his girlfriend arguing earlier during the day and then heard the gunshot. Neither neighbor was injured by the gunshot.
BNSF Sues Whitefish Bar for Allegedly Over-Serving Woman
BNSF Railway is accusing a Whitefish bar of over-serving a woman who died after stealing and crashing a company truck in September 2013.
The railroad is suing Casey’s Bar & Casino in Flathead County District Court because it believes the downtown business is liable for damages stemming from the fatal wreck. The case was filed on Sept. 24 before District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht.
According to court documents and newspaper reports, a 33-year-old Boze- man woman was drinking at Casey’s on the evening of Sept. 27, 2013. Attorneys for the railroad, Scott M. Stearns and Christopher Decker, of Missoula, allege that the woman was visibly intoxicated, but despite that “the patron was forced or coerced into consuming alcohol,” a viola- tion of Montana Code Annotated.
Later that night, the woman entered BNSF property near downtown White- fish and tried to get into a railroad crew van that she thought was a taxi. Railroad workers at the scene informed her that it was not a taxi but the woman got behind the wheel of the vehicle and sped off. She later crashed the vehicle into a tree and died the following day at Kalispell Regional Medical Center from injuries she suffered in the crash.
The railroad is seeking damages from the bar stemming from the incident. The bar has yet to respond to the allegations in court.
Driver Leads Law Enforcement in Pursuit from Polson to Somers Area
A 22-year-old Great Falls man is in custody after leading law enforcement on a chase from Polson to the Somers area on Oct. 20.
According to Flathead County Sher- iff Chuck Curry, Bobby Neal led the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on a pursuit start- ing in Polson. He headed north on U.S. Highway 93, Curry said, where he was also chased by Montana Highway Patrol and Tribal Police.
At the county line at about 9:30 p.m., Flathead County sheriff’s deputies took over, deploying spike strips and taking out at least one of the driver’s tires in the Elmo area.
Curry said the driver posed a “signif- icant risk” to the public, swerving into oncoming traffic and forcing vehicles to
drive into the ditch to avoid a wreck. Neal allegedly also tried to strike law enforce- ment officers deploying the spike strips, Curry said.
The vehicle was finally stopped just south of Highway 82 on Flathead Lake’s north shore, when a Flathead deputy used a PIT maneuver, which is a pursuit tactic by which the deputy forced Neal’s car to turn sideways, causing him to lose control and stop.
Neal was taken into custody without incident. A female passenger in the car was also taken into custody and trans- ported to Lake County.
Neal is being held at the Flathead County Detention Center and has been initially charged with felony criminal endangerment, assault on a peace officer, felony criminal possession of danger- ous drugs, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and reckless driving/ eluding.
Singer Wayne Newton Close to Resolving Property Dispute
Singer Wayne Newton is close to resolving a property dispute after the neighbors who live next to his vacation home in Montana sued him when he put up a chain that blocked access to their land.
The 73-year-old Las Vegas entertainer and his wife own a 5,300-square-foot home on more than 3 acres along sce- nic Flathead Lake in western Montana, according to state property records. The owners of an adjacent property sued in September 2014 after Newton put up a chain blocking the driveway that leads from a highway to his home.
The neighbors, suing as Gromko Fam- ily Vacation Property LLC, said the chain prevents them from getting to their prop- erty, where they had built a garage to store their boat and watercraft trailers.
The neighbors had been using the driveway since 1993 and had rights to it, though not explicitly granted, before the Newtons bought their land in 2010, the lawsuit said.
The sides reached a settlement agree- ment that called for Newton to adjust the boundary line and sell a strip of land the neighbors need to get to their property. The deal hit a snag in August when the sides disagreed on how wide that strip of land should be.
They originally agreed on 10 feet wide, but the neighbors sought 14 feet because of the land’s topography, their attorney, Randall Snyder, said in court filings.
That width was far in excess of what is necessary, Newton’s attorney, Wendell Dunn, said in response.
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District Judge Deborah Kim Christo- pher said she will enforce the settlement by adding 2 feet to the width of the road- way, rather than the 4 feet requested by the neighbors.
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OCTOBER 28, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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