Meth house mother gets deferred sentence

A 35-year-old Columbia Falls woman received a three-year deferred sentence after she and her two teenage daughters were found living in a Columbia Heights home with a meth lab in May 2013.

Flathead County District Court Judge David Ortley also ordered Mysterie Callihan on Nov. 6 to serve 30 days in the county jail, with credit for time served, and pay a $500 fine and $400 in public defender fees.

According to court records, Northwest Drug Task Force agents learned from a confidential informant that Callihan’s boyfriend, Christin Stordalen, 30, was making meth at their home on Columbia Mountain Road by the “one pot shake and bake” method.

Stordalen and Callihan were charged with operating a clandestine lab and criminal possession with intent to distribute. They each faced up to 50 years and a $50,000 fine for the first count because children under 18 were present where the meth lab allegedly operated.

Callihan’s attorney’s motion to suppress the search warrant was denied by Judge Ortley, who ruled that Judge Heidi Ulbricht had probable cause to issue the search warrant.

In a March 6 plea deal, the county attorney’s office offered that if Callihan pleaded guilty to the possession with intent to distribute charge, the meth lab charge would be dropped and the state would recommend 10 years with the Department of Corrections.

The possession with intent to distribute charge was amended to simple possession on Aug. 13 and a new plea deal was negotiated, with the state recommending a three-year deferred sentence.

The Stordalen and Callihan bust was linked by confidential informants to the May 2013 arrest of Jonathan Kemppainen, 36, and his wife Rachel Kemppainen, 39. The Columbia Falls couple were charged with operation of a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory on River Road.

Following a plea deal, Jonathan was sentenced to 12 years with DOC, with seven suspended and a recommendation for placement in a treatment programs. With no plea deal, Rachel was sentenced to seven years with DOC, with five suspended and a recommendation for placement at a treatment center followed by intensive supervised probation.