Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) – On April 6, 2023, at approximately 4:45 am, Missoula Police Department officers were dispatched to a report of a running Subaru parked in front of a local casino, which had two women passed out. in the front seats and that the females had aluminum foil in their hands. An officer arrived and attempted to contact the occupants by banging on the driver’s side window, but neither woman was awakened.
The agent knocked again, louder, which woke the females. The woman in the driver’s seat was identified as Grace Butler and the passenger as Andrea Dickinson. The officer asked Grace to step out of the car and observed that Grace had a black fanny pack on her waist. He also observed a small zip-lock bag, several lighters and torches on the driver’s side of the vehicle. After making these remarks about commonly known pieces of drug paraphernalia, the officer read Grace her Miranda rights and she agreed to talk.
Court documents state that Grace stated she was tired and cold, before advising that she was an “addict.” Grace testified that she used methadone and when asked if there was methamphetamine, heroin or fentanyl in the car, she said “nothing that I know of” and further denied having any dangerous drugs on her person. When asked if she was on probation, Grace said yes. Grace also told the officer that the Subaru belonged to Andrea.
Officers Contact a probation officer
The officer contacted the probation officer who asked for further clarification as to who the car belonged to. The agent asked Andrea if the car was his. She looked puzzled and replied that the car was not hers. Grace again stated that the car was Andrea’s. When the officer confronted Grace about the discrepancy, she stumbled over her words and said, “I mean, it’s not mine.” After informing the probation officer of the circumstances, the probation officer asked the officer to search Grace’s person and the immediate area where she was sitting in the car.
An officer removed the fanny pack from Grace’s waist and began a search of her person. In the left pocket of the sweatpants, the officer located a black plastic cylinder with a keyed lock on the top cap and a cell phone. The officer shook the cylinder and found it appeared to contain pills. Inside the fanny pack, the officer located a large amount of cash, later determined to be $734, some of which was tied up with rubber bands.
The officer then searched the front passenger side of the car and found a small glass tube located next to the passenger seat. The officer also found two white plastic straws that appeared to have drug residue inside, several small pieces of tinfoil, a fentanyl pill and an empty hypodermic needle.
Who does the car belong to?
Another officer spoke to Andrea. Andrea denied that the car was hers, claiming that she did not have a driver’s license and did not own a car. Andrea testified that Grace had picked her up from the shelter earlier that night in the Subaru. The officer asked Andrea what she would find inside the car, to which she said “fentanyl and clear” and that they would be in the front of the vehicle. Andrea identified two bags in the front seat as hers and consented to being searched.
The officer called the probation officer back and gave him more information. The probation officer requested that the entire car be searched. Officers searched the car and located a tin container, which contained several small clear plastic bags.
Officers also searched the cylinder lock black box that was found on Grace’s person. Officers used a key found on Grace’s person and found her opening the locked box, which contained many fentanyl pills. The pills were later counted and a total of 208 were found. In a later interview with a task force, Grace admitted that the 200-300 pills found on her person belonged to her and were fentanyl pills. The officer continued to look inside the lock box and found a small plastic bag of methamphetamine.
“I give them to my friends”
The officer asked Grace if she ever sells fentanyl pills to her friends. After a moment, Grace said, “I mean, I give them to my friends.” The officer then asked Andrea, after reminding her that her Miranda rights still applied, if Grace was selling dangerous drugs, to which Andrea replied, “I’m pretty sure.” Andrea testified that she had never bought from Grace, but that Grace had provided her with fentanyl and methamphetamine before.
At the end of the investigation, Grace and Andrea were arrested. According to court documents, the officer tested one of the suspected fentanyl pills, using a NIK test, at the police station and returned a presumptive positive for fentanyl. He later tested the crystal-like substance he found in the safe using the TruNarc, and it tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed approximately 2.7 grams. He also tested the crystal-like substance found on Andrea’s person through the TruNarc, testing positive for methamphetamine and weighing approximately 1.4 grams.
Grace Butler is currently being charged with felony distribution of dangerous drugs, felony possession with intent to distribute, felony unlawful use or possession of property subject to criminal forfeiture, two counts of felony drug possession dangerous and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. .
Andrea Dickinson is currently being charged with one count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs.
The information in this article has been obtained from publicly visible sources.
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