Weekly Crime Report Includes Stolen ATM and Unprovoked Knife Chase

This week’s crime report is dominated by violent crime and property crime, reports Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst. Pabst provided KGVO News with details of this week’s crimes.

“We had a really busy week,” Pabst told KGVO. “We filed 19 new criminal complaints. Six of those were violent crimes.”

According to Pabst, five of the violent crimes were non-family related.

“We charged assault with a weapon plus methamphetamine. In that case, there was an unprovoked wielding of a knife against a woman on Russell Street.”

“Six property crimes were charged, [including two theft charges]. One also included deceptive practices. In another, the defendant was a house cleaner who allegedly took some jewelry and pawned it. That one appears to be drug related or drug motivated.”

This week’s crime report included five methamphetamine cases, one of which involved a DUI second offense.

“We charged four burglary cases. Two of them involve local businesses that were broken into. Another one involved two counts: the defendant allegedly broke into a coffee kiosk and then allegedly broke into a bar and stole an entire ATM machine.”

Other complaints filed this week included two counts of child endangerment, involving a man who was reportedly driving erratically while under the influence; a charge of intimidation and assault of a peace officer; and a charge of tampering with a witness, in which case the defendant allegedly threatened a witness to prevent them from testifying.

The Attorney's Office is working through the first week of the Preston Rossbach trial. A man involved in a fatal hit-and-run is also currently in custody.

Pabst says that there were several probable cause arrests on the night of March 5, including a drug-related incident and a felony DUI, which will likely be filed today.