Missoula Crime Report: Homicide, Assaulting Officers, and Theft

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office charged seven new violent crimes this week. According to County Attorney Kirsten Pabst, three of those cases involved family violence and four involved non-family violence.

“The first was a robbery in which the defendant allegedly stole a firearm, later pulled it on the victim, and robbed her of all the money that she had on her,” Pabst said. “Two individuals were charged with assault on a peace officer. One was also charged with assault with a bodily fluid. That defendant was allegedly combative with nurses, punched an officer in the face, and spit in the face of another officer.”

The other defendant was charged with assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest for kicking a sheriff’s deputy during an arrest.

One defendant was charged with partner or family member assault and criminal endangerment for allegedly shooting a gun in the direction of a victim.

Pabst said her office also charged one man with felony DUI. This is allegedly the ninth time he has been arrested for driving under the influence.

“There were three property crimes and all of them were theft cases,” Pabst said. “One involved a stolen car and another involved $14,000 worth of jewelry that was taken. The last one was an embezzlement case. The defendant was charged with theft, Medicaid fraud, and criminal insurance fraud for allegedly embezzling over $140,000 worth of money and assets over two years.”

In addition, 20-year-old Zakai Houck was charged with one count of attempted deliberate homicide after a shooting incident that occurred Monday evening in the Miller Creek area.

Pabst was honored to announce that the National District Attorneys Association asked her to give a presentation at their summer conference this year.

“They want me to present to other prosecutors on the topic of community trust and transparency,” Pabst said. “I thought you would find that particularly interesting. I have to tell you that they did notice this crime report program on Talk Back as one of the factors in them asking me to come talk to other prosecutors.”

Pabst said it is really important for her to be able to communicate with the people she represents. She said the best way to do that is to have good relationships with her media partners.