Montana
Montana de Oro standoff suspect allegedly stole U.S. military-procured truck
August 1, 2024
By JOSH FRIEDMAN
The suspect who engaged in a multi-hour standoff with law enforcement at Montana de Oro State Park on Wednesday allegedly stole a transport vehicle that was procured by the United States military and is designed to carry M1 Abrams tanks.
On Wednesday, a witness reported a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot off Los Osos Valley Road in Los Osos. Deputies arrived and the driver, later identified as 63-year-old Patrick Kevin VanNess of Los Angeles, then fled to Montana de Oro State Park, broke through a gate and ended up in the Sandspit Beach area.
Deputies tried to contact VanNess, but he refused commands to exit the truck. After VanNess refused to leave the truck, detail members sprayed tear gas inside the vehicle, and the suspect got out of the truck.
Deputies booked VanNess in San Luis Obispo County Jail on charges of obstructing or resisting a public officer, fleeing a peace officer while reckless driving with disregard, no evidence of current vehicle registration, vandalism, driving without a license, obstructing or resisting an executive officer and burglary.
On Thursday, the sheriff’s office announced that its detectives confirmed the vehicle involved in the incident is a M1070 Heavy Equipment Transport vehicle that was designed for the United States military. The vehicle was manufactured earlier this year and was then stolen in transit prior to being delivered to the military in Southern California, according to the sheriff’s office.
Valued at more than $500,000, the M1070 is specifically used to transport M1 Abrams tanks.
The M1070 that VanNess allegedly stole became stuck in the sand at Montana de Oro several times due to its weight and size. On Thursday, sheriff’s deputies managed to remove the vehicle from the beach at Montana de Oro with assistance from California State Parks and California Army National Guard personnel.
Sheriff’s officials say VanNess will be charged with theft of the vehicle. An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
VanNess is currently being held in SLO County Jail with his bail set at $80,000.
HELENA, Mont. — The Department of Veteran Affairs appointed a new healthcare system director.
Kimberly Adkins is responsible for 21 sites of care statewide including a medical center at Fork Harrison, a health care center in Billings, 13 community-based outpatient clinics and oversees delivery of health care services covering 1447,000 square miles in Montana.
Adkins has been a federal employee since May 1989 when she began as a GS-3 clerk-typist with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Officials say she brings experience overseeing emergency management, fiscal, facilities management, safety, strategic planning, supply chain management, police, privacy, human resource, contacting and more.
The Department of Veteran Affairs provided the information in the following press release:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Kimberly Adkins, as the new director of Montana VA Health Care System (MTVAHCS). Ms. Adkins is responsible for 21 sites of care statewide including: a Medical Center at Fort Harrison, a Health Care Center (HCC) in Billings, 13 Community Based Outpatient Clinics, and oversees delivery of health care services covering 147,000 square miles within the state of Montana.
“We are excited to bring Ms. Adkins on board as the new director of the VA Montana Health Care System,” said Sunaina Kumar-Giebel, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 19 Director. “Her sound leadership qualities and proven experience will be valuable assets for the facility, the employees and volunteers, and most importantly, for the Veterans we are honored to serve.”
Mrs. Adkins has been a Federal employee since May of 1989 when she began her career as a GS-3 clerk-typist with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. She has more than 29 years of Federal service. She brings experience overseeing emergency management, fiscal, facilities management, safety, strategic planning, supply chain management, police, privacy, human resources, contracting, and more.
The Montana VA Health Care System provides essential services is a Joint Commission accredited, level two complexity facility serving Veterans across Montana; the largest catchment area in the lower 48 states (about 147,000 square miles) and operates on a budget of over $612 million. MTVAHCS has approximately 47,300 enrolled Veterans and has capacity to provide services to the estimated 65,000 eligible Veterans in Montana. MTVAHCS has 21 sites of care statewide including: a Medical Center at Fort Harrison, a Health Care Center (HCC) in Billings, 13 Community Based Outpatient Clinics (Bozeman, Butte, Browning, Cut Bank, Glasgow, Glendive, Great Falls, Hamilton, Havre, Kalispell, Lewistown, Miles City, Missoula), a Primary Telehealth Outpatient Clinic in Plentywood, a 14-bed Community Living Center in Miles City, a nationally accredited Sleep Disorders Center in Helena, and ATLAS telehealth sites in Eureka, Bozeman and Missoula. Fort Harrison VA Medical Center has 29 authorized/18 operational acute care medical/surgical beds; which includes six Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds offering a broad range of acute, chronic, and specialized inpatient and outpatient services for Veterans. Fort Harrison operates a 24-bed residential rehabilitation unit offering 2 tracks: the treatment of Veterans with PTSD and the treatment of Veterans with substance abuse. Billings Health Care Center (HCC) provides Primary Care, Mental Health, Specialty Care services, as well as Dental, Laboratory, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Diagnostic Imaging, and outpatient specialty procedures and surgical interventions for the largest metropolitan area in Montana and vast rural area of the eastern half of Montana. Billing’s secondary service area includes northern Wyoming. Telehealth services are available at all sites of care.
WASHINGTON ― Montana Republican Senate nominee Kurt Alme, who previously served as his state’s U.S. attorney, cut a plea deal in 2020 that allowed a tribal police officer who sexually abused a 6-year-old girl to serve less than a year in prison and avoid being registered as a sex offender.
Alme, who has President Donald Trump’s backing in his bid for Senate, served as Montana’s U.S. attorney in two stints. Trump appointed him both times; Alme served in the role from September 2017 through December 2020, and then again from March 2025 through March 2026.
Alme oversaw the case of Mychal Thomas Damon, who was indicted in June 2019 by a grand jury on one count of abusive sexual contact with an individual under 12, which carries a maximum punishment of a lifetime in prison, a $250,000 fine and no less than five years to a lifetime of supervised release. The average sentence for this crime is less severe, but still significant: 62 months in prison, no fine and 143 months of supervised release, based on an analysis of 2025 data provided by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Damon, 28, had admitted he touched the 6-year-old’s genitals. But in February 2020, Alme’s office filed a plea deal in his case that reduced his charge to felony child abuse.
The changes in the plea deal raised the alleged age of the victim from below 12 to below 14, stripped out the language of sexual intent and moved the offense out of the federal sex crime framework, meaning Damon would no longer be required to register as a sex offender. It jointly recommended Damon be sentenced to the time he’d already served of 324 days, and required only a sex offender evaluation. Alme’s name appears on the bottom of the document, along with a signature by his assistant U.S. attorney, Cassady Adams.
In June, Alme filed a sentencing memorandum that described Damon’s conduct, which included details of him touching the child’s vagina with skin-to-skin contact, and the adverse effect it had on her mental health. Local reporting at the time said the victim had told a therapist “Mychal touched me” and hurt her by putting his fingers in her “hoo hoo.”
Ten days later, Alme announced Damon was being sentenced to time served of 324 days and two years of supervised release. As of June 2026, Damon is not listed in the national sex offender registry or in Montana’s Sexual or Violent Offender Registry.
It’s not clear why Alme reduced the charges against Damon as significantly as he did. During part of his tenure as U.S. attorney, his office declined 64% of sexual assault cases. He conceded in a 2019 interview that this “is something that has to be worked on,” and noted that a lot of these cases are declined due to “weak or insufficient evidence.”
Asked what happened in Damon’s case, an Alme campaign spokesman on Thursday lashed out at unnamed Democrats for trying to make him look bad.
“Kurt’s liberal opponents are twisting the facts to manufacture a fake narrative that exploits crimes against women and children,” said Alme’s spokesperson. “Department of Justice policy required defendants to plead to the most serious charge readily provable from the evidence. Kurt strongly supported the Multi-Disciplinary Teams on our Native American reservations, led by his office, to support investigations of crimes against children and to support victims.”
His spokesperson also pushed back on the idea that Alme unreasonably declined a large number of sexual assault cases during his tenure as U.S. attorney.
“Kurt’s office prosecuted every viable sexual abuse felony referred to it and pursued the most serious charge readily provable from the evidence,” the spokesperson said. “Many ‘declined’ cases were to allow more appropriate tribal prosecutions ― they were not dropped. Kurt will bring his years of experience prosecuting criminals and working with the Sexual Assault Response Teams on our Native American reservations to the U.S. Senate to strengthen investigations, support victims, and better protect women and children.”
The campaign pointed HuffPost to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office that found the most common reason for U.S. attorney’s offices to decline sexual abuse cases referred in from Indian country was “weak or insufficient admissible evidence.” It also highlighted statements of support for Alme in an October 2025 press release by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), when he celebrated Alme being confirmed as U.S. attorney.
Alme is currently running for Daines’ Senate seat, and Daines went out of his way to clear the path for him. In a stunning and orchestrated maneuver, the two-term senator in March abruptly withdrew from reelection as Alme filed to run for his seat, minutes before the state’s filing period closed. Daines’ last-minute change-up was an effort to block potential Democrats or any major Republican challenger from jumping into an open Senate race.
Alme is taking on Democrat Alani Bankhead and independent candidate Seth Bodnar in the November election. Bankhead and Bodner have been duking it out for weeks, with each appealing to different factions of the Democratic party and calling on the other to drop out.
Bankhead, a retired Air Force officer, unexpectedly won the Democratic primary earlier this month, boosted by grassroots supporters and more than $2.5 million in outside money from a progressive veterans’ PAC. But Bodnar, a former University of Montana president who did not appear on the primary ballot, has bipartisan endorsements from prominent establishment figures, including former Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot. He’s also significantly outraised Bankhead and Alme.
This Senate seat is rated “solid Republican” by the nonpartisan Cook’s Political Report, meaning Alme is well-positioned to win the general election. But this race would be more competitive if Bodner and Alme were going head to head, without Bankhead in the running.
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