C-Falls man sentenced for vehicular assault

A 22-year-old Columbia Falls man was given two seven-year sentences with the Montana Department of Corrections last week for felony criminal endangerment and probation violation.

Ricky Langton, 22, was charged with stealing more than $1,000 in personal property from three women in Whitefish in 2008 and trying to run over a man in Evergreen in 2011.

Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart Stadler suspended five years for each charge and made them run concurrently. Langton was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

According to court documents, Langton and three men went to the home of three Whitefish women they met at Casey’s Bar on Nov. 29, 2008. After each of the women retired to their separate bedrooms with one of the men, the fourth “red-haired” man was left alone downstairs.

The next morning, the women noticed some missing property. They notified Whitefish police and provided them with the names of two of the men.

When interviewed, the two men identified the “red-haired” man as “Roger” and said they discovered the stolen items in their vehicle as they were leaving the women’s home. When they protested, “Roger” pulled a knife on them and ordered them to leave, they said.

One of the two men, however, Langton’s brother Eric, allegedly let it slip that “Roger” was actually “Ricky.” When the officers pressed for more information, Eric Langton said “Ricky” was his brother and that he was in prison in California.

The officers contacted California law enforcement and got a photo of Ricky Langton. One of the Whitefish women identified the man in the photo as the “red-haired” man. The two men interviewed by the police then allegedly admitted to giving false information.

On May 29, 2010, Judge Ted Lympus gave Langton a three-year deferred sentence and ordered him to pay $2,950 in restitution and a $500 fine.

Langton got into trouble again on Sept. 14, 2011, when he tried to run over the man who was dating his ex-girlfriend at her home in Evergreen.

According to court documents, Langton chased the man down Terry Road into the parking lot behind Flathead Electric Cooperative, where a passenger emerged from the vehicle possibly holding a rifle. Langton then chased the man with his vehicle onto a yard on Terry Road. Several witnesses said they saw Langton driving the vehicle.

Langton was charged with felony criminal endangerment and felony assault with a weapon.