Man faces trafficking charges after being on lam for two years
RALPH BARTHOLDT | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 6 months AGO
A Coeur d’Alene judge ordered a Minnesota man to face the same marijuana trafficking charge that had been reduced through a plea agreement because the 29-year-old had skipped bail and left the plea bargain behind.
Timothy Shofner was charged three years ago with trafficking marijuana after being caught hauling 37 pounds of pot between Oregon and Cloquet, Minn., where he worked as a cook at a casino.
His Kootenai County charges were reduced as part of a plea agreement that called for a suspended five-year prison sentence and a $5,000 fine instead of a mandatory fixed five-year prison term and $15,000 fine as outlined in Idaho Code.
That means Shofner would have been placed on probation instead of serving time, but Shofner, originally from Grants Pass, Ore., did not show up for sentencing. Instead, he left the area and seemed to have dropped off the map. His Facebook page was devoid of entries since his 2017 arrest by Idaho State Police on I-90 at Fourth of July Pass.
Since his arrest three weeks ago on a fugitive warrant, Shofner has been held without bail in the Kootenai County jail.
Defense attorneys argued last week that Shofner’s plea agreement should stand, although Shofner had absconded and been on the lam for two years.
First District Judge Richard Christensen pointed out Monday that plea agreements are binding contracts and the judge allowed prosecutors to once again amend Shofner’s charges from intending to deliver marijuana — a lesser charge — to drug trafficking.
Shofner and Katlynn M. Johnson, 24, were driving east over Fourth of July Pass in a red Dodge Durango, Feb. 2, 2017, when they were stopped by Idaho State Police for a traffic infraction. Troopers smelled marijuana in the vehicle and Shofner told them he had dispensary cannabis, according to a report. A search uncovered 37 pounds of cannabis divvied into 39 heat-sealed bags, police said.
Shofner told troopers he was hired to transport the pot from Oregon to Minnesota. He was arrested and booked for trafficking. Johnson was not charged.
Shofner will be arraigned April 9 on the latest amended charge.
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