Missoula Police Arrest Wanted Man at the Poverello Center

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - On October 15, 2025, a Missoula Police Department Officer arrived at the Poverello Center to assist another officer who had contacted a robbery suspect at the shelter. Around the same time, a separate officer was looking for a different person related to an unlawful restraint investigation. 

When the officer arrived, he was approached by a Poverello Center employee who informed him that the male had just left the shelter. The Poverello Center employee described the male as wearing a leather jacket with a hood and jeans. Then the officer was sent a photo of the male suspect. 

The officer located the male sitting on a retaining wall near the intersection of Toole Avenue and Burton Street. The male identified himself as 44-year-old Jonathan Burns. The officer learned that Burns had a warrant for his arrest from Minneapolis with a $12,000 bond attached.  

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Burns was Arrested and Searched 

The officer told Burns that he was being detained due to this warrant. Burns, on his own volition, then stood up and placed his hands behind his back. Burns was placed in handcuffs, and officers conducted a search incident to arrest.  

Inside one of Burns’s pockets was a lighter that was wrapped with a blue strip of rubber. The officer recognized the blue strip of rubber as a tourniquet that, based on his training and experience, is commonly used to aid in the injection of dangerous drugs.  

After the search was complete, Burns began reaching his hands around to the front of his body. Concerned that he could be reaching for a weapon, the officer took control of Burns’s hand. According to court documents, Burns then admitted he had drugs in the front of his underwear and asked the officer to remove them.  

READ MORE: Missoula News – Crime Reports 

Drugs Were Found in a Sock 

The officer removed a sock from the front of Burns’s underwear. Burns consented to a search of the sock, which yielded a small plastic baggie that contained a small amount of a white crystalline substance. Based on the officer’s training and experience, he recognized the substance as methamphetamine.  

After Burns was booked into the Missoula County Detention Facility, the officer transported the evidence to the police station. The crystalline substance was tested with a TruNarc device, which yielded a positive result for methamphetamine. 

Burns is currently being charged with felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs.  

The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.