C-Falls career criminal behind bars, again

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

A Columbia Falls man with a long criminal record is being held on federal charges of prohibited person in possession of firearm, armed career criminal.

Christopher Glenn Lakey, 35, of Kalispell and Columbia Falls is in custody after an investigation by the FBI, FBI Lab, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, Whitefish Police Department, Montana Probation and Parole and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Lakey in 2012 robbed a pizza delivery driver in Great Falls at knifepoint. He was sentenced to 50 months in prison on that charge.

He was then charged with escape in 2017 and then in February of last year he was charged with violating the conditions of his release for allegedly using heroin, meth and committing other crimes.

Lakey has a long criminal history on the state level as well.

But in addition, Lakey is also known not for his criminal record, but for stopping another criminal, who drove drunk into an Evergreen home, killing a teen who was asleep at the time.

In April 2019, Jared Parsons, 31, of Kalispell drove into a house on Spring Creek Drive, killing Erin Howk, 15, who was asleep inside, about 2:10 a.m. Howk was a freshman at Columbia Falls High School.

Parsons tried to flee on foot, but family members got into a car and were able to stop him. Lakey grabbed Parsons and beat him up before police arrived.

“He’s lucky I didn’t kill him. If I would have known my daughter was dead when I was assaulting him, I would have killed him. No question about it. I would have dealt with the consequences and would be OK with it,” Lakey told the Hungry Horse News after Parson’s court initial court appearance at the time. “Everyone makes mistakes, but damn, show some remorse. He didn’t look remorseful at all. He killed a 15-year-old child that had a bright future ahead of her. She loved school and she loved people. She would have given the shirt off her back to help anyone.”

Lakey was engaged to Howk’s mom at the time.

If convicted of the most serious crime, Lakey now faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release. Lakey was detained pending further proceedings.