Month: August 2022

by Travis Mateer

Sheriff Toth, I know you’re doing the best you can. It’s clear how hard you’re trying, but that failing organ in your chest may not be getting the oxygen your brain needs to function properly.

Why is this a problem? Well, it seems certain institutions, like crime labs and newspapers, are deeply beholden to the documents you generate, documents like “police reports” and other tangible proof that stuff like “investigations” are happening.

Two documents now exist–documents called “autopsies”–and for the public to be properly informed about the results of these autopsies, you, Sheriff Toth, have a responsibility as an information gatekeeper to accurately depict the basic facts of such documents to the media.

Since it appears that a problem of accuracy developed somewhere between Sheriff Toth and the Missoulian, a headline had to be amended hours after it was posted online. Here is the original headline, just below the image the Missoulian used for the story.

And here is the amended title of the article with an alternation that might not seem significant at first, but it is, as I will try to explain.

Before getting to Angela Mastrovito’s Facebook response, allow me to describe something I hadn’t realized until investigating this story. There is apparently a BIG difference between CAUSE of death and MANNER of death. Here’s the distinction:

In this case, after talking to the director of the State Crime Lab, Rebekah’s CAUSE of death is only PRESUMED to be drowning because the dog the crime lab NEVER saw and NEVER examined was found in the water, its cause of death unknown. Does that sound like flimsy reasoning? Does that assume the dog entered the water at the same time Rebekah did? What is the proof of that?

The Director of the crime lab, Travis Spinder, was adamant about the fact they DO NOT investigate the circumstances that can determine the MANNER of death. In this case, that would have been the responsibility of the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office. Anything beyond the remains being examined is derived from those “documents” I mentioned, like “police reports”.

What documents did Sheriff Deputy Ryan Funke generate, considering he was the responding law enforcement official first on the scene to discover Rebekah’s vehicle and personal belongings? And what kind of documents did CORONER Ryan Funke generate, since this talented dude is ALSO that for Mineral County? Was there documentation involved in Funke’s decision WHEN to release Rebekah’s remains for evidence destruction cremation? There’s a few other details that have me wondering if Funke is the grim reaper in this case.

Now, on to Angela Mastrovito’s quick attempt to counter the misinformation being passed along by the Missoulian.

The content of the Missoulian article presents another problem, and that’s the impression that the CAUSE of death is still being investigated. Really?

The cause of death still is under investigation, meaning officials haven’t determined why or how she drowned, Mineral County Sheriff Mike Toth explained.

While there seems to be a pretty clear admission that the MANNER of the alleged drowning of Rebekah Barsotti hasn’t been determined, the reporting DOES seem confident that it had NOTHING to do with domestic violence, despite the “former spouse” facing a PFMA charge last March, a no-contact order, video evidence of Rebekah’s terror, text evidence of HIS death threats toward her, and a six year domestic violence history chronicled by local police reports.

Nope, nothing to see here. From the “reporting”:

For Mastrovito, her daughter’s case has transitioned into an effort to raise domestic violence awareness, citing allegations that Barsotti’s former spouse was abusive, although authorities have not connected Barsotti’s case to domestic violence.

Yes, authorities haven’t connected Barsotti’s case to domestic violence because they’ve been busy at lemonade stands.

I cropped this picture because I’m not a big fan of using kids to show how narrative control functions, but I do think it’s interesting to see this picture uploaded right around the same time the second autopsy was being completed at the State Crime Lab in Missoula.

It’s incredibly frustrating to have so little media attention on this story for so long, then, as authorities ensure information trickles out on THEIR timetable, this article, with its misleading headline, gets to start forming the narrative the public will consume.

Until the media landscape changes, failed Sheriffs and grim reaping deputies will be able to set their preferred narrative. Luckily, there are other people working to ensure the truth will win out in the end.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

When I wrote about the settlement Missoula County was recently forced to pay the Sheriff’s Office, the amount was $3.4 million. Two days after my article posted, that amount got bumped up a half million dollars, and the full amount heading toward the Sheriff’s Office just got GOB’d (General Obligation Bond). From the link:

The Missoula County commissioners authorized a general obligation bond of approximately $4 million Tuesday morning to cover the costs of unpaid sheriff’s deputy wages.

The commissioners settled a lawsuit in early June centered on three years of unpaid wages owed to Missoula County Sheriff deputies because of the county’s failure to calculate the sheriff’s parity pay and certification pay in the deputies’ wages.

The county originally settled the lawsuit for $3.45 million, but additional costs have piled up around the deputies’ benefits.

An additional approximately $400,000 will also come out of the county risk fund to cover interest on the wage claims.

For Missoula County residents, the 5-year bond will result in a payment of $2.83 per $100,000 of taxable value in the bond’s first year, followed by $3.18 per $100,000 for the next four years.

One of the aspects of this case that I find curious is the political dynamic at play. The Sheriff’s Office is currently headed by T.J. McDermott, who ran his problem-plagued campaigns as a Democrat with the help of Westridge Creative, and all the County Commissioners are Democrats, I believe. But clearly, according to the reporting, there are some negative feelings surrounding this settlement between the Commissioners and the Sheriff’s Office.

Generally speaking, one can usually place law enforcement on the conservative side of the political spectrum. When I took a look at the political donations of Rob Bell, of Reep Bell & Jasper, that seems to be born out with donations going to conservatives like Attorney General, Austin Knudsen.

In the post I linked to at the top of this article, I reference how another partner of this law firm, Lance Jasper, has been showing up in curious places, like last November’s Mineral County Commissioner meeting where Rebekah Barsotti’s mother, Angela Mastrovito, excoriated Sheriff Toth for his mishandling of her daughter’s missing person’s case.

Lance Jasper ALSO showed up at Johnny Lee Perry’s coroner’s inquest and sat with the glaring row of Sheriff Deputies defending their colleagues use of force in the terrifying meth den west of town they had to respond to when that ex-con, Jack Maxvill, called his daughter, who called 911, setting off a chain of events that led to Johnny getting shot in the back twice by Sheriff Deputy Shawn Evans.

Establishing the role of Reep Bell & Jasper as defenders of law enforcement, and then overlaying that legal support with political donations going to conservative candidates, is important for what I’m about to disclose next, because the connection this law firm has to the Rebekah Barsotti case is more convoluted than Lance Jasper showing up at a Mineral County Commissioners meeting last November.

If you click on the link at the top of this post, you’ll see a screenshot of Rob Bell’s political donations, and in that screenshot you’ll see some of that political support going to Judge Jason Marks, the same judge who has YET TO RULE on a motion to intervene in a civil case before him where David Barsotti has been VERY successful in timely court filings and legal victories.

With all this context in mind, is it significant that the wife of Judge Marks, Jordan Kilby, works for Reep Bell & Jasper? I don’t know the answer to that question, but below is a portion of the Facebook post announcing her new job with the law firm.

I’m making these connections through publicly available media reports, like this one, where Judge Marks’ judicial challenger, Robin Hammonds, made an issue of Marks’ wife role (in the County Attorney’s Office at the time) during their respective campaigns. Why? Because Hammond was getting hammered for the fact some of her endorsements came from California. From the link (emphasis mine):

The work in California has earned Hammond a number of her own endorsements from the legal community there. That may, however, have backfired as some have drawn criticism on her social media campaign, eliciting the typical us-against-them challenge an out-of-stater would face, despite her state roots.

“The reason I do have endorsements from people in California is I worked there, I did well there, people respected me, and they know my skills and dedication,” Hammond said. “And I think it’s important for voters to know that, yeah, I’m from Montana and I worked somewhere else for a while. … It’s been sad, honestly, to see that as an issue.”

And on the flip side, Hammond believes her relatively new stance in Missoula’s legal community does provide some upside in some elbow room between her and the status quo.

“I’m not married to anybody in the public defender’s office or the county attorney’s office (Marks’ wife, Jordan Kilby, is a prosecutor in the Missoula County Attorney’s Office. Her cases do not go before Marks.), and I think that that is important,” Hammond said. “I didn’t work there, my career is not based there, and the decisions I make are not going to be impacted one way or another by the county attorney’s office and what goes on there and what the training has been. To me, I think that’s important in Missoula. It’s time for a change, and I think I represent that.”

How did Jason Marks respond to this? Here’s his “rebuttal” (emphasis mine):

Marks, in rebuttal, pointed out when he took the bench, Hammond, along with other defense attorneys, opted to keep Marks as judge when he had supervised the prosecutor in those cases, rather than substituting in another judge. The matter of Marks’ marriage to a prosecutor was also on display during the interview process in which the state judicial nomination commission forwarded his name and three others to the governor for selection. Marks also noted endorsements from the high ranks of the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, including vice president Colin Stephens and past president Peter Lacny. 

“They support me because they know I’m fair, impartial and always willing to listen to them and their clients,” Marks said. 

Yes, Judge Marks considers himself fair, impartial, AND, as we will soon see, TRAUMA-INFORMED, which is a great sounding phrase that gets more and more meaningless the more I hear it coming from the mouths of people like Judge Marks.

Here is more of Marks heaping praise on himself for his abilities:

Marks himself started out his career as a public defender before moving to the county attorney’s office. He was born and raised in Missoula, graduated from law school at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2005 and began practicing in Missoula afterward. When the Missoula County Attorney’s Office was the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation for its handling of sexual abuse and assault cases, Marks was put in charge of building the subsequent special victims unit from scratch. That experience created new opportunities for Marks to lead trainings on the subject matter, and sticks with him as he presides over cases involving family matters, drug courts and more.

“I’m dealing with all these family law cases where there’s potentially domestic violence, and what do you expect from people in those circumstances,” Marks said. “I’m able to bring a trauma-informed experience perspective to all these other areas of law outside of criminal law.”

Yes, I’m definitely willing to believe these assertions Judge Marks made about himself are true. For example, I have personally witnessed Judge Marks appear VERY trauma-informed regarding the trauma David Barsotti has been experiencing during the past year; a terrible time during which a majority of the town where he lives considers him a suspect in the “river accident” of his ex-wife.

In fact, during the last hearing I attended, Judge Marks was so accommodating of David Barsotti, he declared a VERBAL report from the pathologist doing the second autopsy as being adequate for releasing the body from the crime lab in order to honor poor David’s wishes that cremation happen pronto, and control of the ashes went straight to him, the grieving husband.

One of my favorite phrases Judge Marks used in the last hearing, which may help those following this case from the outside understand the lengths he has gone to be trauma-informed, is “coloring outside the lines”. This was said in relation to his court-ordering of the second autopsy, an order the STATE crime lab COULD HAVE contested, if they wanted to, according to my conversation with the lab’s director, Travis Spinder.

Another point of being trauma-informed can be seen in the careful avoidance of that pesky PFMA charge (partner/family assault), which David was ultimately found not guilty of due to his wife’s failure to appear in court because, as we now know, she was dead.

In summary, it appears law enforcement is well-represented by effective lawyers who sometimes are married to trauma-informed judges who ALWAYS know who is experiencing the right kind of trauma, and who deserves the right kind of rulings from his impartial court.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

A few Fridays ago I was in the old neighborhood where I used to work and decided to show someone the dystopia it had become. Boy, was THAT a mistake.

I made a very minimal reference about what happened when I decided to drive down Cedar Street, on the north side of the Poverello Center where I used to work, in this post about gaslighting the use of motor vehicles, but now I feel the need to get into this incident a little more in depth for a few reasons.

The first reason is my request to the staff member working the front desk that night, to have the shelter director call me the following week, was never followed up on.

The second reason is this recent story about a dude breaking windows out at the YWCA.

The common denominator in my experience, and the story KGVO reported on, is the curious role of Rogers International in allegedly providing “security” around the Poverello Center, a homeless shelter that has literally had to BEG with BONUSES to get staff to work there.

I made my way down Cedar Street very slowly because some of the people hanging around didn’t seem very interested in moving OUT of the street. One particular group of three individuals really didn’t move, and when I passed them, a guy hit my car with his hand, then pretended that I hit him with my vehicle.

I continued driving and decided to call the Poverello Center instead of 911, and that led me to a direct call with a paid staff member of Rogers International (RI). The guy I spoke with had less than adequate communication skills for someone expected to maintain order. This became even more apparent when the following incident happened a few weeks later:

On July 30, 2022, around 9:10 pm, Missoula Police Department officers were dispatched to a criminal mischief in progress at the YWCA building on Broadway. Dispatch advised that 28-year-old Cameron Billedeaux, a well-known male to law enforcement who frequents the area, was seen breaking windows of the building with his skateboard.

For a better look at the area this occurred, here’s my on-the-ground report:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/736005029?h=6fc932ab1a&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479

Before picking up the story at my favorite part, I want to point out that the breaking of windows is a bit ironic considering what I’ve written about regarding the Broken Windows Theory of policing.

Of course, we’re not talking about REAL police in these lack-of-security incidents, we’re talking RI, and what are they going to do when a dude is busting out windows? (emphasis mine):

An officer then learned that a security guard was the one who witnessed Billedeaux breaking windows and then leaving the area on his skateboard. The security guard told the officer he observed Billedeaux break all of the windows, which totaled seven double pane windows.  

Billedeaux admitted to an officer that he knowingly destroyed the windows and stated he thought he could because he saw another person do it previously who wasn’t arrested.

It’s hard to know what to say about all this. Why should taxpayers be paying for this private security contract if this the result?

I’m having A LOT of conversations with people around this topic because there’s a special window of opportunity to educate people right now before more money is poured into failed ideas.

I’ll leave it there for now. Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

While I do know a thing or two about the TWO autopsies that have now been completed on the body of Rebekah Barsotti, I’m more interested in asking some questions, and the first one is the title of this post: how many Sheriffs does it take to release an autopsy?

The question may be a little misleading because any given County in the fine state of Montana should only have ONE Sheriff at a time, and my understanding is that person for Mineral County is Mike Toth, but last March I wrote an article speculating whether or not anyone would notice if Toth went missing.

My speculation is based on reports of Mike Toth’s health being in serious decline, reports I partially confirmed when my phone call to a hospital in Billings got transferred to Toth’s hospital room, after which the sickly Sheriff hung up on me.

During the time that Toth was not able to discharge the duties of his office, Wayne Cashman was put in place as acting Sheriff. Then, of course, there’s the race for Sheriff involving Sheriff Deputy, Ryan Funke, and Gretchen Webb.

Another question worth asking is who OTHER PEOPLE think is the Sheriff. Maybe it would be worth asking Deputy County Attorney, Wally Congdon, who HE thinks the Sheriff is. Would he answer Toth, or Cashman, or maybe Funke?

Getting back to the autopsy, we know the body of SOME woman was found BY the river on May 17th. Here’s a question: was the FIRST autopsy done on May 18th? If the answer to that question is YES, then why did it take until June 2nd for the sickly Sheriff to give his brilliant NO HOLES summation of the crime lab’s work. From the link:

The Mineral County Sheriff’s Department says the cause of Rebekah Barsotti’s death has not been determined yet. But Sheriff Mike Toth says the State Crime Lab told him no gunshot or stab wounds were found on her body.

Mineral County is still waiting for an official report on the cause of death.

Yes, waiting for reports is getting pretty standard in this case. And what’s the date today? August 2nd. That means it’s been 76 days since a body was found and STILL NO AUTOPSY has been officially released.

How can this be?

Since June 2nd the people in authority who know things have been playing games about the body of Rebekah Barsotti, and this includes more than just Sheriffs. One glaring example of playing this cruel game seemed, at the time, to be more callousness than calculation, and that’s the antics of Wally Congdon, Deputy Attorney for Mineral County.

Here is a portion of Angela Mastrovito’s documentation of Mr. Congdon’s behavior directly before a court hearing regarding her daughter’s remains (emphasis mine):

After Angela greeted Wally Congdon in a friendly greeting, “Hi Wally,” Wally turned around and insisted on knowing why we were at court. According to him, he should be in a field bailing hay, and because of the SCHEDULED Hearing, he was losing $10K. Oh, and if it should rain, I would be causing him to lose even more money – all because he was at a hearing related to my daughter, Rebekah Barsotti. He went on to insist that Mineral County should not have burned a pound and a half of pot that was supposedly found in Rebekah’s vehicle. (I have a copy of the inventory and that is not listed; so they either falsified the report or conveniently left that item off the inventory list, btw, the tote box is not listed either). Incompetence or cover-up? You decide.

As I consider this interaction, the callousness vs. calculation argument is hard to see because the ways in which Rebekah Barsotti might be smeared, posthumously, haven’t been made yet. I assume that will come when autopsies (plural) are released and awkward facts, like tattoos documented on wrong appendages, have to be distracted from.

Since victim-blaming strategies of distraction really piss me off, a list of questions is currently being developed to ENSURE the focus stays on the right things. I can assure readers a very sharp mind is assisting in forming these questions, but some may be too sensitive to publish until the dust settles.

So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

The articles now being written about “frustrations” over changing expectations at the Missoula’s ACS (Authorized Camping Site) were entirely predicable for someone with experience working with subgroups of the broader “homeless” community.

Before getting to how current frustrations are being articulated to the public, it’s important to ask how the ACS was being pitched to the people who would end up there in the first place. The phrase “low barrier” didn’t have to translate into BUILD SHANTY TOWN HERE, but that is what appears to have happened.

After reading through the various gripes–which I don’t find valid in the first place because this site was never intended to be a permanent shanty town build–we get to the problem of ever-changing rules.

The ever-changing nature of the rules at the site provided another factor in McCullough’s decision to leave.

McCullough, Sanem and other campers expressed frustration at a lack of transparency and consistency on the part of the site’s management.

Initially, they said, there were no restrictions placed on the structures. Then the campers were told they couldn’t use pallets to build permanent buildings because those posed a fire hazard. After they dismantled the permanent structures and used coverings to provide shade, they were then told to take down the tarps and awnings above their sites.

“There are no rules to follow until we do it and break the rules,” said McCullough.

What seems to have happened, from my limited perspective, is illegal campers at the Reserve Street encampment were told they’d have carte blanche at this site because there was ONLY a carrot approach, since our local officials are terrified of bad PR from utilizing the stick the rest of us experience when we break the law.

I hope some lessons have been learned about what happens when carrots have to be over-emphasized because no sticks exist thanks to the combined forces of strategic ineptitude emanating from Missoula’s Sheriff and Attorney Offices, and the political spheres of influence they represent.

Until those lessons translate into competent actions on the ground, stories like this will trickle out:

MTN News found the site has had complications with contractors and staff changes. Limited water, shade, trash removal, and bathroom cleaning are what homeless community members and advocates say is the result.

“Trying to stay hydrated and cool, very hard. Shade’s limited. It’s not easy to stay cool, especially in this heat,” said Sean Wilde, who has been staying at the site since January. “We were expecting to have a clean place, clean environment.”

“There’s water inside this one tent that’s right over here, and there’s water stored up in the trailer where the security hangout,” Wilde said during a tour outside of the fence. He also notes that the Culligan water jugs often run out before the next delivery.

Wilde — who is also the secretary with the Hope Health Alliance, a nonprofit advocating group in Missoula — noted some people have generators and fans, while others cool off in the river or by dousing themselves in water.

County officials say water is delivered regularly, but they are working to understand the complaints, and how much additional water might need to be brought on site.

After reading this article, I reached out to the Hope Health Alliance and got a slightly better understanding of the timeline campers are looking at until new rules are instituted: August 10th. I’m hoping to speak with the other person listed at the Hope Health Alliance website to EVEN BETTER understand this advocacy group and their role in protecting shanty town.

One thing I will note about my brief conversation is that Rogers International staff apparently hang out all day in the trailer, where there’s air conditioning, hardly ever coming out to deal with problems.

I guess that answers the question I posed back in January about how Rogers would provide “security” for this site with their nice government contract. What a joke.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more on this developing story.