Hungry Horse News

A Hungry Horse woman was sentenced in federal court last week to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release for distributing methamphetamine in the Flathead Valley.

But her defense paints a different picture of 25-year-old Kalynn Marie Moskaloff in court documents. Moskaloff pleaded guilty to the charges.

In January 2020 and again in February 2021, officers allegedly found meth and firearms in the vehicles during traffic stops of her vehicle.

Little is known about the actual details of the case — the indictment against her is sealed. Typically that happens when there is a broader drug investigation.

But her defense paints a picture of a woman who had a difficult upbringing and is a meth addict.

On January 21, 2020, Moskaloff was stopped driving a Ford Expedition, and a 9 mm handgun was found in the vehicle. On July 24, 2020, Moskaloff was a passenger in a Lincoln MKS. A search of that vehicle located a 12-gauge shotgun and a 9 mm handgun. Moskaloff, however, denied the firearms found during those traffic stops belonged to her, according to court documents filed by Moskaloff’s defense attorney Jill Gannon-Nagle.

Gannon-Nagle presented a brief biography of Moskaloff, painting a picture of a young woman who has always known crime and grief in her life.

Moskaloff ’s childhood was spent with her grandparents, as a result of both parents being incarcerated for significant periods of time. She lacked parental supervision and guidance from her parents, and moved out of her home at the age of 16.

She dropped out of Columbia Falls High School in the 10th grade to assist her grandmother in raising her younger siblings and cousins.

Meanwhile, worked a steady job at Burger King in Columbia Falls and Moskaloff maintained that job for several years, working herself into an assistant manager position.

She had two children, Kacen and Kingston. The father of her children, Justin Icard, went missing in 2017, and his remains were recently found in the Flathead River.

Kingston died at age five months while in foster, care, which further brought emotional strife to her life.

“Kalynn really lost her way after the passing of her son Kingston. I feel she is acting out because she does not know how to deal with those emotions and feelings that come up from the loss,” her uncle, Tony Frazier, said in a letter of support.

The defense asked the court to sentence Moskaloff to 36 months in prison, with five years supervised release, asking the court for leniency in her case, claiming she’d be an ideal candidate for drug treatment.

“If there were a picture-perfect defendant in need of counseling and treatment, it would be Ms. Moskaloff,” Gannon-Nagle argued.

But because of the firearms involvement in the case, the federal mandatory minimum of 10 years was imposed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer S. Clark prosecuted the case, which was investigated by FBI’s Montana Regional Violent Crime Task Force, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and Kalispell Police Department.

This story has been corrected to reflect that one son, Kingston, died, not both of them.