A 46-year-old Stevensville man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of dumping methamphetamine waste into an outhouse at the Charles Waters Campground near Bass Creek.

During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Brian K. Klobuchar admitted to a single count of dumping hazardous materials without a permit. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 19, 2010.

Klobuchar was arrested in September 2008 when a campground host reported that a man and a woman had dumped at least two five-gallon buckets of an unknown, malodorous substance into a latrine before driving off in a pickup truck.

Ravalli County sheriff's deputies traced the truck to Klobuchar, and charged him with felony possession of narcotics and a parole violation for being high on methamphetamine and cocaine, according to officials.

Because Klobuchar dumped the chemicals on Bitterroot National Forest land, he was also charged with two federal offenses - dumping hazardous waste without a permit. The waste, it turned out, was acetone and methyl ethyl ketone, potent chemicals commonly used to make the drug methamphetamine.

Forest Service officials closed the campground, and four families were evacuated from the grounds. No injuries were reported.

The Charles Waters Campground is a popular, developed campground at the mouth of Bass Creek west of Stevensville. The campground's 28 sites are typically full during the summer and on fall weekends.

At Tuesday's change of plea hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch, Klobuchar admitted to one count of dumping hazardous waste in the form of acetone. In exchange for the guilty plea, and as per a recent plea agreement, prosecutors will dismiss the second count. They also will recommend a punishment on the low end of the federal sentencing guidelines, and ask that Klobuchar receive credit for his cooperation.

Klobuchar, who is currently incarcerated at the Missoula County Detention Facility on a federal hold, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and at least three years on supervised release. He has prior felony convictions in state court for aggravated assault and drug possession.

Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com.