ICE Rumors Swirl on Montana Social Media

This is turning out to be a bad week for rumors of ICE immigration in Montana, as local jurisdictions are being forced to tamp down false reports of ICE operations on social media.

Yesterday, Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer issued a statement refuting social media posts that claimed a Sheriff's Office captain had pulled over someone for reckless driving. Springer says the officer was in his unmarked car, but was wearing his "clearly marked" sheriff's vest, but people jumped online claiming it was a stop by federal officers.

Springer says, "These reports are an attempt to create fear and chaos within our community,y and they are patently false."

     🚨 Missoula and Flathead County law enforcement have encountered similar rumors and are stressing that there are no indications that ICE or Border Patrol have expanded operations.

Missoula clarifies local law enforcement operations

After hundreds of Montanans turned out to show concern over the immigration enforcement issues in Minnesota, Missoula leaders are making it clear there are no such operations in the Garden City.

And Police Chief Mike Colyer tells the city council his department's policy is to have officers clearly identified at all times, unlike the federal officers deployed around the country.

"To operate with a veil of secrecy just provides confusion and speculation. It impacts trust," Coyler said Monday night. "It is not good for anybody. It is not good for us and our safety if people don't know where the police is not good for the community members if they don't know that we are the police. So I want to reassure people in Missoula that when you see those types of tactics being used, that we don't do those in Missoula."

"I am concerned that when any group is viewed as being untrustworthy, that every member of that group, regardless of where they work, is kind of lumped into that same that kind of same stereotype." -Missoula Police Chief Mike Coyler

Mayor Andrea Davis reassured residents by saying officers are NOT asking about people's citizenship status during traffic stops or other interactions.

Videos released in search for murder suspect

Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter is releasing the first images of the "person of interest" they're looking for in connection with the murder of 25-year-old Terrill Johnson, earlier this month.

Slaughter shared two security camera clips yesterday, one showing the suspect getting into the car with Johnson the morning of the murders, and another showing him walking by a camera in a local mobile home park.

"I want you to look at the gate in which the person walks. If there's anything that's distinctive about the way they walk, common clothing they might be wearing is the bag, symbolic in any way that someone might know who this person is." -Sheriff Jesse Slaughter

The sheriff says the video wasn't released earlier because you can't clearly see the young man's face. He's hoping the community will view the video, posted on the sheriff department's Facebook page and also our website, and reach out to Detective Nick Allison with any information.

Prison time finally ordered in bizarre drug murder case

A Missoula man is being ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders of two people in the California high desert in a case stemming from marijuana trafficking.

Federal prosecutors had accused Cory Spurlock of murdering Will Larsen and his wife after he became suspicious Larsen was cooperating with federal authorities investigating the murder of another man. That victim's mother had mentioned Larsen in a podcast discussing her son's disappearance. Spurlock was convicted of following the Larsens into the desert along Highway 395, where he stabbed and shot them, taking Larsen's money and leaving their bodies along the highway in November 2020.

     Spurlock was also convicted on drug charges and for trying to arrange the murders for hire.

READ MORE: Man Convicted in 2022 Murder Case

Blood supplies see "severe" drop

A combination of the holidays, cold and flu season, and winter storms is putting the crunch on blood supplies, with a "severe shortage" developing nationwide.

Nona Keeler of the Red Cross says the local supplies have also been drawn down because of flooding emergencies here in Montana and the Northwest this winter.

"We haven't had a whole lot of winter in Montana, but other parts of the nation have, and that takes a huge toll. But even in Montana, with the flooding disasters that parts of our state have recently experienced, that impacts us as well," Keeler tells me.

The Red Cross is encouraging people to give blood to help those critical supplies rebound before the seasonal shortages later in the spring and summer, and is also looking for organizations that would like to set up blood clinics to help out. More info at redcrossblood.org.