A man with a history of high-profile run-ins with law enforcement in Lake, Lincoln, Sanders and Flathead counties has landed back in jail for allegedly distributing dangerous drugs.

James Rand Hernvall, 35, was transported to the Flathead County Detention Center on Wednesday for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs with intent to sell. He had been taken into custody by Missoula County authorities for outstanding Flathead County warrants, according to Flathead County Undersheriff Dave Leib.

The arrest was the latest in a string of criminal activity where Hernvall has grabbed headlines for his brushes with the law but has largely avoided serving substantial jail time for his crimes.

Hernvall led Lake County authorities on a helicopter chase on Melita Island on Jan. 15, after he was caught going through mailboxes.

Hernvall was sentenced in late October by Lake County Justice of the Peace Randal Owen for misdemeanor criminal trespass. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 165 days suspended, with credit for 15 days served.

Hernvall is also facing charges in Sanders County. On March 19, Hernvall was charged with felony drug possession, criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, felony theft, criminal trespass and felony use of property subject to forfeiture. He and a woman were found in possession of a truck stolen from Lake County and property believed to have been stolen from storage units.

The duo allegedly had rented a storage unit near Plains to store the loot. Among items found in the unit were bolt cutters, 16 license plates and numerous items of drug paraphernalia. Items found were believed to have been stolen from locations in Washington and Western Montana.

At the time of his arrest after the helicopter chase in January, Hernvall was wanted on a Flathead County arrest warrant for felony assault with a weapon and theft for a March 23, 2013, incident where he allegedly stole a woman’s car.

A day after the woman told police that Hernvall took her vehicle and officers found the vehicle with Hernvall, the man allegedly followed the woman and her mother on a motorcycle until she pulled over at a gas station on U.S. 2.

Hernvall then allegedly pulled out a pistol, said, “You f----- with the wrong person,” and pointed the gun at the woman before he sped off. Charges were dropped earlier this year without prejudice, meaning they cannot come before the court again.

Charges were filed in a new Flathead County case in June, in which prosecutors allege that Hernvall fled the passenger’s side of a vehicle that was stopped by a Montana Department of Criminal Investigation officer at 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 11, 2014.

The driver of the vehicle later told a confidential informant that Hernvall had fled the vehicle and hidden methamphetamine under a rock off Political Hill in Lakeside. The officer found two ounces of methamphetemine under a rock.  

Hernvall remains in jail with bail set at $40,000.

Hernvall’s criminal history dates back more than a decade. He received a 30-day jail sentence and two years of probation for a string of thefts from vehicles in Libby in 1999, when he was 18 years old.

On March 29, 2004, he was given a three-year suspended sentence in Lincoln County for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs.

On Oct. 29, 2004, Hernvall survived being shot three times in the chest in Flathead County in an incident that left investigators scratching their heads over who to charge in the crime. Hernvall’s wife told investigators that the pair were followed from Scotty’s Bar to Airport Road where the duo pulled over. The wife said that two armed men approached and asked if the pair had drugs or money and the woman claimed there was money in her car trunk.

The woman said there was actually a baseball bat that she intended to use. The woman said she tried to call a relative for help as she rummaged through the trunk.

One of the men pointed a gun at her, and the husband was shot in a scuffle with the men, the woman claimed. She said the men shot at the car twice as they drove away. She later stopped cooperating with authorities.

But when police interviewed the two men, they claimed that Hernvall came at them with a tire iron and that he was shot in an act of self-defense.

Hernvall ended up being sent to prison a few months later on a parole violation for the previous drug charge out of Lincoln County.