A transient woman with a lengthy criminal history in Montana is in local custody while facing charges in another county for alleged drug trafficking.

Tarryne Joan Galloway, 25, was convicted of criminal endangerment in 2021 in Lincoln County following a traffic accident while she drove under the influence. She was sentenced to a 10-year term in the Montana State Women’s Prison. Five of those years were suspended, however.

Galloway was scheduled to appear Monday in Lincoln County District Court on a petition to revoke a partially suspended sentence from the 2021 case. 

Galloway also has a 2021 conviction in Missoula County for criminal possession of dangerous drugs from a 2018 incident. She received a 3-year sentence for that offense. According to Sanders County Justice Court records, Galloway pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in 2020.

In Mineral County Justice Court, Galloway also has a number of case filings, including for probation violations, theft and arrest warrants in other jurisdictions.

A Jan. 22 court filing detailed Galloway’s history of incarceration and her difficulties in staying out of legal trouble. She began her prison time in Billings in July 2021. In February 2023 she was moved to the pre-release center in Butte. After finishing her Missoula County sentence on Sept. 1, 2023, she was arrested on a parole hold Nov. 20, 2023. Following an intervention hearing, she was released four days later. 

About a month later, Galloway absconded from supervision in Missoula County. Feb. 15, 2024, she was arrested in Mineral County and returned to the state prison in March.

In April 2025, Galloway was moved to the pre-release center in Butte. In September, she was granted entry to a transitional living program and in November she was paroled. 

But Galloway found trouble again when she was arrested Jan. 18, 2026, by a Montana Highway Patrol trooper and accused of drug trafficking. Five days before that she was arrested, she tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine.

Probation and Parole officer Cacie Cain, who wrote the violations report, recommended her suspended sentence be revoked and returned to the state prison.

In the 2021 incident in Lincoln County, Galloway was driving a Ford Explorer when it struck a van after running a red light. There were children in the car that was struck but they were apparently uninjured. The driver of the van told law enforcement she believed she was going to be struck by the Explorer, so she sped up because she had a child in a car seat in the backseat and she feared for her safety.

Officer Ian Smith, then with Libby police, investigated. After performing standard field sobriety tests, Smith believed Galloway was under the influence of marijuana. A breath test also indicated the presence of alcohol.

The victim of the accident told Smith when Galloway spoke to her after the collision, the accused said, “I guess that’s what happens when you smoke marijuana and drive.”

During Smith’s investigation, Galloway gave a fake name and birth date. Repeated efforts to determine her identity went for naught. The people in the vehicle with Galloway at the time said they would wait for her, but they disappeared and were known to be users of illegal drugs.   Smith became concerned Galloway was a victim of human trafficking. She said wasn’t.

Eventually, Smith spoke with the accused’s grandmother who helped him identify her as Galloway. Later that day, a FBI fingerprint check officially determined the woman was Galloway. 

Smith also served a warrant on Galloway for a 2018 case. According to https://newstalkkgvo.com/, she was accused of meth possession while in the company of two other men during a traffic stop by Missoula police.