Woman allegedly was living in home she didn't own

A woman arrested for breaking into a Columbia Falls home late last month adamantly maintained she was the owner even while getting booked into the Flathead County Detention Center, prosecutors say.

Ashley Katherine Coil, 37, faces a felony burglary charge in Flathead County District Court following her Oct. 29 arrest. She is being held in the county jail with bail set at $100,000.

Deputies with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office caught up with Coil and another man after the caretaker of a Columbia Falls-area property reported seeing lights on inside the home, court documents said. He also saw two individuals leaving the property with what looked like a bottle of alcohol.

Arriving deputies found the pair — a man and a woman — nearby, still carrying the alcohol, court documents said. Coil allegedly told investigators that they were coming from her home and described the residence off Highway 40 as hers. She claimed to pay homeowners insurance and said the bottle of alcohol came from inside “her residence,” according to court documents.

Deputies took Coil back to the home, where she again said that it belonged to her, court documents said. Investigators, though, noted that cadastral data showed a different property owner, whom they contacted.

Authorities subsequently searched the home, court documents said. While the survey turned up no other inhabitants, investigators noted signs that people had stayed in the home in the prior days, including open bottles of alcohol, according to court documents.

Deputies took Coil to the county jail, where she continued to claim to live at the property, court documents said. The man accompanying her, meanwhile, allegedly told deputies Coil had invited him over to the house several nights prior, telling him it was her home.

Coil is expected in district court Nov. 10 for an arraignment. If convicted, she could spend up to 20 years in Montana State Prison and pay a fine of $50,000.