Fourth defendant added in federal meth case

HOPE — A fourth defendant has been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in northern Idaho, U.S. District Court records show.

Zachary Craig Carlson, 30, was charged with the felony meth conspiracy charge on Oct. 15, according to a superseding indictment in the case. Carlson is accused of participating in the alleged distribution conspiracy from the summer of 2015 to February 2016.

The complaint also contains a criminal forfeiture allegation which would allow the government to seize at least $150,000 in unrecovered cash proceeds and property linked to the conspiracy, the indictment said.

Hope-area residents Larry Junior Hillbroom, 36; Morgan Kenney, 34; and Sean Robert Wathen, 48; were indicted on conspiracy to distribute meth charges from 2015 to 2016 in July.

The federal meth conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, a maximum fine of $1 million, and at least three years of supervised release, according to prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice.

All four defendants have entered not guilty pleas and remain held at the Bonner County Jail, court records indicate. A jury trial is pending.

Counsel for Kenney moved for his release because he was gainfully employed as a maintenance worker for a recreational vehicle park in Hope who posed no danger to the community, according to federal court records.

United States Magistrate Judge Candy W. Dale, however, denied the request in August, ruling that the charges were serious, which created the risk that Kenney will flee to sidestep prosecution, a detention order in the case states.

Kenney subsequently moved for a bill of particulars which lay out the government's case against him. The government provided the defense with 10,000 pages of records, in addition to several dozen hours of recorded interviews, statements and phone calls, most of which don't involve Kenney, Coeur d'Alene defense attorney K. Jill Bolton said in the motion.

"What appears to have been supplied by the government is an excessively large 'document dump' involving multiple investigations into multiple different methamphetamine and other illicit drug conspiracies and distribution schemes which provides no clear guidance on the specific parameters of the conspiracy in which they purport Mr. Kenney was involved," Bolton said in the motion.

The lack of specificity in the discovery materials, Bolton argued, is hamstringing Kenney's ability to defend himself in the case.

Kenney's attorney is further moving for her client to be tried separately from the three other co-defendants in the case.

"In this matter, the joining of Mr. Kinney, a minimally involved defendant, implicated solely on the testimony of two highly impeachable cooperating witnesses alone, with co-defendants against whom the government appears to have substantial evidence of drug distribution activity creates a substantial risk of prejudice for Mr. Kinney at trial and a jury finding him guilty solely based upon his association with the main target of the conspiracy, his half-brother Hillbroom, rather than actual evidence inculpating him in the conspiracy," Bolton wrote in the motion.

Counsel for Carlson, also known as Zachary Craig Vanbooven Carlson, applied for a writ of habeas corpus in order to determine if his detention is lawful, records show. A hearing on the application is set for Nov. 17.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com or followed on Twitter @KeithDaily Bee.