GREAT FALLS - Roosevelt County officials arrested the Poplar police chief Tuesday for allegedly growing marijuana plants in a barn near his rural Culbertson home.

Chad A. Hilde faces a felony charge of production or manufacture of dangerous drugs and a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. He was arraigned before Justice of the Peace Bruce Waldhausen in Culbertson and was released after posting a $10,000 bond.

Acting County Attorney Steven Howard filed an affidavit in District Court on Tuesday saying a female runaway told a sheriff's deputy Friday that Hilde had a marijuana plant growing in his barn, and that the police chief told her it was for medical purposes.

But an official at the Montana State Division of Quality Assurance Licensure Bureau told a Roosevelt County criminal investigator that Hilde isn't licensed under the state's medical marijuana law as either a patient or caregiver, according to court documents.

The documents say deputies searched Hilde's property Friday and found eight marijuana plants, marijuana seeds, as well as growing instructions and tools commonly used to grow and distribute marijuana.

Poplar is a town of about 1,000 residents on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

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