Drug seizure proceeds shared in Montana
BILLINGS, Montana – Three local Montana law-enforcement agencies that helped California authorities in a federal drug case shared Friday in the proceeds from the seizure and sale of an upscale log house near Nye, Montana.


The house was forfeited to the Montana government and was sold for $580,000 last year by the U.S. Marshals Service.


Montana Marshal Dwight MacKay presented three checks of $10,604 each to Stillwater County, Montana Sheriff Cliff Brophy, Yellowstone County Sheriff Chuck Maxwell and Billings Police Assistant Chief Jerry Archer.


“In Montana, this is a lot of money,” MacKay said.


MacKay said the Montana agencies worked on the case with federal and California authorities.


“We’re proud to be a team,” he said. “This is a good way to fight crime.”


Under the Justice Department’s asset forfeiture program, up to 80 percent of the proceeds from seized assets can be distributed to Montana law-enforcement agencies and task forces that assist the criminal investigation.


The remaining 20 percent of the proceeds goes back into the Montana program for administrative costs.


In this case, the Stillwater County, Montana and Yellowstone County, Montana sheriff’s departments and Billings, Montana Police Department each received 2 percent of the proceeds.


More than $424,000 was awarded to other law-enforcement agencies in California and Montana that had been involved in the seizure.


“We’ve always enjoyed a good working relationship,” Brophy said. “This is a significant amount for our office.”


The money will help pay for more training for two drug dogs Stillwater County, Montana purchased last fiscal year, he said.


Montana Deputies in Park City and Absarokee, Montana have the dogs, and one of them already has been used in five cases, he said.


Archer, from the Billings, Montana Police Department, said, “It’s always good when we can work on a combined effort.”


Maxwell said, “The forfeiture program goes a long way in helping us combat the (drug) problem.” He said the money will help buy equipment for Montana drug enforcement and help with drug education programs.


The government seized the Nye, Montana property – a three-bedroom, 3,100 square-foot home on 11 acres including a quarter-mile of Stillwater River frontage – in a drug case filed in Los Angeles.


A company called Spectrum International, whose executives are two Billings brothers, was ordered to pay $2 million to the government – a $200,000 fine and a $1.8 million forfeiture.


Brothers Charles G. Eisele, president, and Richard D. Eisele, vice president, were sentenced in February 2002 to two years of probation, including six months of house arrest.


They pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges stemming from their company’s illegal distribution of more than 1 billion tablets of pseudoephedrine, a cold-medicine ingredient that is used to make meth.


The Nye property belonged to Richard Eisele and appraised for $590,000.