A Whitefish man charged for allegedly threatening a woman with a machete in Columbia Falls last summer earned a deferred sentence in Flathead County District Court in March.  

Steven James Lundgren, 66, pleaded not guilty to felony counts of assault with a weapon and intimidation at his Oct. 31, 2024, arraignment, but later struck a deal with prosecutors that saw him cop to a misdemeanor charge of assault.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend he serve a deferred six-month sentence in county jail and pay $100 in restitution to the victim.  

Judge Danni Coffman, who presided over the case, stuck to the terms of the deal at Lundgren's March 14 sentencing. She also gave him credit for 27 days of time served.  

Lundgren, allegedly armed with a machete, approached a woman in the parking lot of a Columbia Falls supermarket on Aug. 5, 2024, and demanded she turn her vehicle's lights off. The ruckus aroused a nearby Columbia Falls Police officer, who saw Lundgren raise the broad blade over his head and threaten her, court documents said.  

The woman told the officer she was smoking a cigarette when Lundgren aggressively approached her. When she refused to comply with his demands, he began waving around an object she initially thought was a pipe, according to court documents.  

Lundgren, arrested in the parking lot, later told the authorities the light upset him. He allegedly said he pulled out the machete in the hopes of intimidating the woman into turning them off. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or [email protected].