POLSON — Two men appeared in Lake County District Court hearings during the past week on felony drug charges generated by cases investigated by the Montana Northwest Drug Task Force.

Salvador Alvarez changed his not guilty plea on June 4, admitting to two felony counts of attempted criminal distribution of dangerous drugs. The 46-year-old Moses Lake, Wash., man is scheduled to appear before Judge Deborah Kim Christopher for sentencing on July 23.

According to court documents, Alvarez was busted delivering cocaine and methamphetamine to three individuals in Lake County for distribution locally. The police affidavit states that the three individuals on the receiving end of the drug deal had previously spoken with a task force agent, informing that they had been distributing drugs for Alvarez as they owed him money for drugs they had been “fronted.”

The individuals came forward to the task force in March of 2007 because they and members of their family had been threatened by the  drug dealer. The three distributors then worked with the task force in support of the investigation as confidential informants, setting up separate drug deal sting scenarios.

The agent monitored phone calls from the three informants to Alvarez, each arranging to pay him back and two requesting cocaine and meth while the other asked the Washington man specifically for meth. Alvarez agreed to deliver the requested drugs on April 22, 2007.

Assisting the task force with surveillance, Tribal  police officer Louis Fiddler observed Alvarez’s vehicle near Dixon in Sanders County and picked up the dealer on an existing warrant. Alvarez’s car was impounded at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office where it was subsequently searched and an ounce of cocaine and 3.5 oz of crystal meth were recovered from a fuse box in the vehicle’s engine compartment.

The day before on June 3, Casey Plant pleaded not guilty to felony charges of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and tampering with physical evidence. The 20-year-old Big Arm man is scheduled to appear before Judge C.B. McNeil for an omnibus hearing on June 24.

According to court documents, a trusted confidential informant working with the drug task force contacted an agent on April 21 on a tip that the informant had just been offered everything from oxycodone to cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy from Plant - an alleged dealer who the informant said used to sell them meth. The CI told the agent the dealer got his drugs from a source in Kalispell.

A police affidavit states that on May 19 the task force agent contacted Plant’s probation officer who confirmed that they had heard from a source that the man had marijuana at his residence. The probation officer and drug task force agents collaborated on a search of Plant’s residence later that day.

Plant allegedly locked himself in the back bedroom when officers searched the location, buying time to allegedly attempt to dispose of several pills of the drug hydrocodone out a bedroom window. Marijuana was also found in the room the defendant allegedly holed himself up in.

The Montana Northwest Drug Task Force is a partnership of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Police, Flathead County Sheriff’s, Lake County Sheriff’s, Mineral County Sheriff’s and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Offices.