Update: Timothy Harmon plead not guilty Oct. 21 to the charges. He is scheduled for a jury trial in June 2020.
Timothy James Harmon, a key figure in his family’s local farm equipment business Big Equipment, is facing drug-related felony charges.
Harmon, born in 1977, was arrested Sept. 27 and is being held in the Hill County Detention Center without bail on a Probation and Parole hold. He’s facing three counts of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and one misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.
Tim Harmon (Department of Corrections photo)
Harmon is scheduled to appear for his arraignment Oct. 21 at 10 a.m. in District Court in Havre, during which he will plead not guilty or guilty to the charges against him.
His father and Big Equipment owner, Ron Harmon, told the Herald Thursday the version of what happened as portrayed in the charging documents includes some “misleading” aspects. Ron Harmon added that the charges against his son deserve to be legally challenged and they will be.
Jason Holden, a Great Falls attorney, is representing Timothy Harmon.
According to charging documents, this is what happened:
On Sept. 27, a Safe Trails Tri-Agency Task Force agent and two probation and parole officers searched Timothy Harmon’s vehicle. The search was prompted by a positive drug screen by Harmon.
A digital scale with residue on it that presumptively tested positive for methamphetamine was found.
Officers also found Clonazepam and Alprazolam pills in a bottle with a Hydrocodone label. The Hydrocodone was prescribed to Harmon, but the other two were not, the charging documents say.
The officers also searched Harmon’s Havre home.
In Harmon’s bedroom, officers found a syringe with cloudy residue in it.
In his jacket, officers found a prescription bottle with a white substance that later presumptively tested positive for meth.
In the kitchen, officers found a baggie with a substance that also tested presumptively positive for meth.
Presumptive testing is a chemical analysis of a sample that establishes the possibility that a substance is present. Such tests can determine that a sample is definitely not a certain substance or that a sample probably is a certain substance.
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Harmon agreed to talk to officers without an attorney, the documents say:
He said the scale found in his pickup was not used for selling meth but to weigh the meth he bought to make sure he wasn’t getting “ripped off.” As for the Clonazepam, it was prescribed to him for an injury, but he couldn’t remember who prescribed it, court files say. When asked if he injects or snorts meth, Harmon said he usually snorts it but does inject it sometimes using a syringe.
Harmon has prior offenses, including criminal possession of dangerous drugs in 2001 and in 2014, a bail jumping offense in 2014, and a theft offense in 2001.
Suspects are considered innocent until they are proven guilty.
Email Paul Dragu at [email protected]
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