Last month, the 22-year-old Coleman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and aggravated burglary, both felonies. Those charges and others were filed last November after a group of armed men broke into a rental house at 533 S. Sixth St. E. with the intention of stealing money and drugs.
On Tuesday, Missoula District Judge Doug Harkin sentenced Coleman based on a plea agreement that dismisses kidnapping charges and recommends that the ex-Grizzly begin serving out his term at the Treasure State Boot Camp program, a men's facility in Deer Lodge based on a military format of discipline.
“The sentence that Judge Harkin imposed in Coleman's case was fair and just, given Coleman's background and level of involvement in the crime,” Chief Deputy Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst LaCroix said. “The sentence was commensurate with those imposed in the co-defendants' cases.”
In April, Coleman, along with his attorney, Missoula Regional Deputy Public Defender Ed Sheehy, and LaCroix, reached a plea agreement that dismissed two felony counts of kidnapping.
One occupant of the house was repeatedly pistol-whipped and a woman was bound with duct tape before the Nov. 5, 2007, incident was over. Within a week, informants told police who committed the break-in. Arrested were UM players Jeramy Pate, Mike Shelton, Qwenton Freeman and Coleman. Two other men, Levi Woods and Mark Whetstone, were also arrested.
LaCroix also has filed charges against two more men in connection with the home invasion - Donald J. Byrnes and Ronald Powell Jr.
Powell, 27, who had previously been known to Missoula authorities only by the nickname “Dirty,” was recently arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, on a Missoula County warrant. Authorities are in the process of extraditing him back to Missoula to face charges.
Meanwhile, Byrnes has hired an attorney and Missoula officials are in the midst of negotiations to have the man turn himself in.
According to court records, Powell was identified by another defendant as the suspect who allegedly did the pistol-whipping.
Byrnes, who had been a UM student but allegedly fled to Ohio after the robbery, is identified as playing a planning role in the robbery, according to records.
Other defendants told police that the plan called for Byrnes to case the house in advance of the robbery by purchasing marijuana from the occupant, then relay information to the other men.
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com.
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