Federal grand jury indicts Columbia Falls man on drug charges
A federal grand jury in late May indicted a Columbia Falls man arrested for allegedly knocking over a local pharmacy on multiple counts in two separate cases.
Grant Alan West, 38, was indicted May 20 for robbery involving controlled substances and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence for the alleged April 13 holdup. He was similarly indicted for attempted receipt of a firearm while under information and false information to acquire a firearm for allegedly trying to acquire a gun at a Kalispell area pawn shop after being released from the county jail.
Authorities arrested West at his Columbia Falls home not long after the holdup. According to charging documents filed in Flathead County District Court, a man walked into the pharmacy near closing armed with a gun, demanded Percocet — an opioid — and forced store employees into a bathroom.
When they emerged after receiving no answer to their calls from inside the bathroom, the employees found the store vacant. One 100-count bottle of oxycodone-aceteminophen was taken, documents said.
While the man wore a beanie, mask and sunglasses, according to an affidavit filed in federal court, one of the employees identified West as a customer. She told authorities she recognized his “voice, stature, limp and shoes,” court documents said.
A second employee also said she recognized West, although only after being prompted by her coworker. According to court documents, she recognized “West’s voice, which was particular and soft, his limp and his stature.”
And the robber allegedly said “thank you” when the employees handed over the drugs, which “would be characteristic of West … because he had been polite and friendly on previous occasions.”
When they arrested West, authorities allegedly found a gun and several oxycodone-aceteminophen pills, documents in district court said.
THE FEDERAL affidavit, written by Trevor Hare, a special agent with the FBI, details how West denied the allegations, telling investigators he was not involved with the robbery.
West allegedly told Columbia Falls Police officers that he had a prescription for the drug — he took several a day for back pain — and had not left his house. He said a friend had borrowed his car to go to the store and later returned the vehicle. He repeated that version of events during a subsequent interview with FBI agents.
West described the other man as similar to him in size and wore a beanie that day. He allegedly told authorities that his friend lived in the trailer park, but could not provide an address for him.
While investigators seized items from West’s home that generally matched the descriptions provided by the witnesses, they had second thoughts during follow up interviews. The first witness told authorities that the shoes taken from his home seemed different than the pair worn during the robbery. She thought the handgun, which boasted orange front and rear sights as well as an orange safety selector, was not as colorful as the one used in the robbery.
The third employee involved in the holdup similarly questioned the firearm seized from West’s home, telling authorities that the orange accents had possibly been in different locations.
STILL, A grand jury charged that West robbed the pharmacy and put the employees in jeopardy by doing so with a firearm. They also charged that West “knowingly and unlawfully attempted to receive, in and affecting interstate commerce, a firearm” while on pretrial release in May and “knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement” to the local pawn shop by filling out the paperwork while omitting the possible federal charges hanging over his head.
West’s next scheduled appearance in U.S. District Court is a sentencing hearing set for Aug. 25.
Back in Flathead County court, where he faces robbery, aggravated kidnapping and criminal possession of dangerous drugs charges, West has an omnibus hearing scheduled for Nov. 2. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Nov. 16.
He remains held in the county jail on a $250,000 bond.