Truth Seeker
New Member
Police arrested notorious 'mountain man' Dan Nichols Tuesday on drug charges following a months-long search that came nearly three decades after he and his father kidnapped a world-class athlete.
Nichols was taken into custody after phoning the U.S. Marshals Service and saying he would be in the Walmart parking lot in Butte between 2pm and 3pm.
Nichols showed up as promised in a 1982 red Honda Prelude with Bozeman license plates and was arrested without incident, Walsh said.
'He basically turned himself in,' Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff John Walsh said.
The sheriff said he did not know why Nichols called marshals.
Nichols failed to appear in court in March on charges of drug possession and intent to distribute during a rock concert last August in Three Forks, and Jefferson County officials issued a warrant for his arrest.
Nichols was 46 at the time of his arrest last year.
Federal prosecutors became involved in April, charging Nichols with participating in a medical marijuana organization in Helena accused of illegally growing and distributing more than $1.7million in pot.
The co-founders of that operation, Montana Cannabis, are either facing federal drug charges or have made plea deals.
It was not immediately clear where Nichols had been living the past few months.
He is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Wednesday, and the U.S. Marshals Service is expected to take custody of him then.
In 1984, Nichols and his father, Don Nichols, kidnapped biathlete Kari Swenson. Don Nichols planned to make the then 22-year-old Swenson his son's wife.
The father-son duo made international headlines three decades ago when they abducted Swenson, a world-class biathlete, while she was on a training run in the mountains above the resort town of Big Sky.
They forced her into the woods and kept her chained to a tree most of the time when would-be rescuers stumbled upon the camp.
In the melee, Dan Nichols accidentally shot Swenson. An armed standoff ensued, and the elder Nichols gunned down a would-be rescuer. The two then eluded police for five months.
The pair, who had lived for long stretches in the mountains by poaching game and eating from makeshift gardens, evaded a prolonged manhunt by living in the remote wilderness northwest of Yellowstone National Park.
Their habits prompted authorities to label them with a 'mountain man' moniker they embraced.
Dan Nichols was paroled in 1991. His father was denied parole for his 85-year-sentence in a high-profile hearing last month.
The hearing included emotional testimony from kidnapping victim Kari Swenson, her husband and her father, plus testimony from former and current law enforcement officials.
Since her harrowing ordeal, Swenson went on to compete at a high level, despite diminished lung capacity from the gunshot wound.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Author: Daily Mail Reporter
Contact: Contact Us | Mail Online
Website: 'Mountain man' who fled from drug charges turns himself in to Montana police after months-long search | Mail Online
Nichols was taken into custody after phoning the U.S. Marshals Service and saying he would be in the Walmart parking lot in Butte between 2pm and 3pm.
Nichols showed up as promised in a 1982 red Honda Prelude with Bozeman license plates and was arrested without incident, Walsh said.
'He basically turned himself in,' Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff John Walsh said.
The sheriff said he did not know why Nichols called marshals.
Nichols failed to appear in court in March on charges of drug possession and intent to distribute during a rock concert last August in Three Forks, and Jefferson County officials issued a warrant for his arrest.
Nichols was 46 at the time of his arrest last year.
Federal prosecutors became involved in April, charging Nichols with participating in a medical marijuana organization in Helena accused of illegally growing and distributing more than $1.7million in pot.
The co-founders of that operation, Montana Cannabis, are either facing federal drug charges or have made plea deals.
It was not immediately clear where Nichols had been living the past few months.
He is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Wednesday, and the U.S. Marshals Service is expected to take custody of him then.
In 1984, Nichols and his father, Don Nichols, kidnapped biathlete Kari Swenson. Don Nichols planned to make the then 22-year-old Swenson his son's wife.
The father-son duo made international headlines three decades ago when they abducted Swenson, a world-class biathlete, while she was on a training run in the mountains above the resort town of Big Sky.
They forced her into the woods and kept her chained to a tree most of the time when would-be rescuers stumbled upon the camp.
In the melee, Dan Nichols accidentally shot Swenson. An armed standoff ensued, and the elder Nichols gunned down a would-be rescuer. The two then eluded police for five months.
The pair, who had lived for long stretches in the mountains by poaching game and eating from makeshift gardens, evaded a prolonged manhunt by living in the remote wilderness northwest of Yellowstone National Park.
Their habits prompted authorities to label them with a 'mountain man' moniker they embraced.
Dan Nichols was paroled in 1991. His father was denied parole for his 85-year-sentence in a high-profile hearing last month.
The hearing included emotional testimony from kidnapping victim Kari Swenson, her husband and her father, plus testimony from former and current law enforcement officials.
Since her harrowing ordeal, Swenson went on to compete at a high level, despite diminished lung capacity from the gunshot wound.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Author: Daily Mail Reporter
Contact: Contact Us | Mail Online
Website: 'Mountain man' who fled from drug charges turns himself in to Montana police after months-long search | Mail Online
