Montana

The Montana Boyz star Mark Estes once accused of felony assault for allegedly beating up fellow college students

Published

2 years ago

June 5, 2024

The Montana Boyz star Mark Estes once accused of felony assault for allegedly beating up fellow college students

Mark Estes of the popular TikTok group the Montana Boyz was accused of felony federal assault in February 2021 after allegedly beating up a group of students, Page Six has exclusively learned.

A spokesperson for the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office confirms the influencer – who is now dating “Hills” alum Kristin Cavallari – was involved in the violent incident three years ago, which led to the hospitalization of one of the alleged victims. Estes, 24, was ultimately never charged.

We’re told Estes – who was a student at Montana State University at the time – and his friends allegedly got into a brawl with another group of students in an off-campus fight.

However, by the time law enforcement arrived at the location, everyone was “gone and separated,” which is why no immediate arrests were made.

A Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office public information officer, who worked on the case, tells Page Six that police were not informed of the incident until the injured parties were already at the hospital.

He notes, however, that the group who fought Estes and his pals were at the hospital for just one person, though the entire group seemingly went to support their injured friend.

“If we’re coming to those kinds of things after the fact, we might not arrest the person even if there’s probable cause for them to be charged,” the officer explains.

“We’ll put in what’s called a request for prosecution at the County Attorney’s Office, and they will either issue a warrant or a summons if they feel that probable cause exists to continue on with the case.”

The officer on the case says he pursued a request for prosecution for Estes in particular because this was not a situation in which the then-student athlete was at the wrong place at the wrong time, alluding to the fact that the TikTok personality was allegedly one of the aggressors.

“I put in the request that Mark Estes be charged with aggravated assault and misdemeanor assault because there were two victims,” the officer says.

“I felt that there was probable cause [because] one person’s injuries sustained rose to the level of aggravated assault. The other person who was involved, his injuries were significantly less, just minor scrapes and bruises, which is more of a misdemeanor charge.”

Despite the officer’s requests, Page Six learned that the Gallatin County Attorney’s Office ultimately decided not to press charges against Estes or others involved because they felt it was “mutual combat.”

We’re told no charges were filed against the other parties, and the status of the injured student’s health was not revealed due to it being “private medical information.”

The public information officer notes, though, that there were “some penalties that Montana State imposed” since Estes and the other parties involved were students at the university at the time.

Michael Becker, a rep for Montana State University, declined Page Six’s request to comment on the situation, stating, “Matters concerning individual students’ discipline are protected by federal privacy law.”

According to online records, it appears that Estes transferred schools shortly after the incident. However, it’s unclear whether the incident had anything to do with his move.

He appeared in Montana State’s football roster in 2020 but by 2023 he was playing for Montana Tech.

In recent years, Estes has rose to prominence on social media for his lip-synching videos with pals Kaleb Campbell Winterburn and Kade Wilcox.

The trio boasts more than 800,000 followers on TikTok and nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram.

“The boys began posting on TikTok and in a matter of weeks became viral for their good looks and country flair,” a spokesperson for the group recently told us in a press release.

“Former college football stars, these guys are more than just athletes — they’re models and cowboys, balancing ranch life with the stardom of social media. They seamlessly blend the rugged allure of cowboy life on the ranch with the polished finesse of fashion, crafting a unique persona that captivates audiences.”

Estes, for his part, has garnered even more fame for his romance with Cavallari.

The social media personality and 37-year-old “Laguna Beach” alum – who have a 12-year age gap – went public with their relationship in February. They are reportedly getting “pretty serious” and he has met her kids, whom she shares with ex-husband Jay Cutler.

Page Six has reached out to a rep for Cavallari for comment on her boyfriend’s alleged criminal background but did not immediately hear back.

The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office also confirms to Page Six that neither Winterburn nor Wilcox’s names appear on the February 2021 assault case files.

However, Page Six obtained video that shows Winterburn’s track record is not squeaky clean, either.

In the clip, the TikToker appears in the front seat of a car – with Estes beside him in the front-side passenger’s seat and another friend fooling around in the back of the vehicle.

Winterburn then says into the camera while looking at the friend behind him, “Hey, Seth. You’re a n–r,” prompting Estes’ jaw to drop before the video cuts off.

Page Six has reached out to reps for the Montana Boyz for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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Montana

Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

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3 hours ago

March 11, 2026

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Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

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Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

Published

15 hours ago

March 10, 2026

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Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

HELENA — On Monday, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a letter to the City of Helena claiming the municipality is not in compliance with the state’s law banning “sanctuary cities.” The letter comes just under a month after the State of Montana launched an investigation into a city resolution on Helena Police policy and Helena’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

In the letter, Knudsen laid out the ways he believes the city’s resolution violated state law. The attorney general gave Helena 15 days to respond or reverse the policy. If the city does not comply, his office will pursue legal action.

“Helena’s resolution appears to contain blatant violations of this law,” wrote Knudsen.

MTN News

On January 26, 2026, the City of Helena adopted a resolution clarifying when and how the Helena Police Department will cooperate with federal immigration officials. The vote was 4 to 1. The Helena commission seats and the mayor are elected in non-partisan races.

In the letter, Knudsen alleges the resolution established “a broad sanctuary city policy” that seeks to protect every illegal immigrant, regardless of whether the individual had committed a serious crime or not. The state further claims the resolution gives illegal immigrants “special privileges” in plea deals and establishes a “free-for-all policy” where a police officer can request the unmasking of Department of Homeland Security and ICE officers.

Knudsen has requested that the City of Helena, in their response, specifically describe in detail how the resolution complies with Montana law, provide emails and correspondence from city staff and the commission regarding the resolution.

Helena City manager Alana Lake told MTN in a statement: “The City of Helena is aware of the issues being raised by the Attorney General’s Office and is reviewing the matter. While we cannot discuss the details of a potential legal issue, the City is committed to transparency and compliance with the law. The City takes these matters seriously and will continue to cooperate with the appropriate authorities while remaining focused on serving our community.”

Passed in 2021, Montana House Bill 200 prohibits a state agency or local government from implementing any policy that prevents employees or departments from communicating with federal agencies regarding immigration or citizenship status for lawful purposes. It also states governments must comply with immigration detainer requests if they are lawfully made.

HB 200 was backed by Republicans and passed with only Republican votes. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law on March 31, 2021.

Passage of the resolution by the Helena City Commission has drawn ire from conservative voices in Montana politics and on the national level.

The resolution said the commission supported the Helena Police Department avoiding “committing its resources to federal action for which it has no authority,” such as entering into an agreement with the federal government to directly enforce immigration laws. Under federal law, immigration enforcement is conducted by federal agencies under the Department of Homeland Security. However, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, state and local governments can voluntarily enter into 287 (g) agreements with the federal government that allow them to enforce immigration laws.

The commission further supported HPD’s policy not to stop, detain, or arrest a person solely on suspected violations of immigration law, including assisting other agencies in an arrest based solely on immigration law.

DEEPER LOOK: Helena has seen a growing debate over ICE and local police involvement

In the resolution, the commission also supported an HPD officer, using their own discretion, requesting the identification and unmasking of a Department of Homeland Security Officer if the HPD officer “feels it will not be interfering with the actions of federal officers exercising their jurisdiction.”

“This adversarial relationship by local law enforcement toward federal officers itself undermines public safety and forces immigration officers to fear for their safety when they are simply carrying out their lawful duties,” wrote Knudsen.

The resolution further supports the City of Helena’s policy not to consider immigration consequences in a plea agreement with a defendant.

The commission also supports the City of Helena not disclosing any sensitive information about any person – including immigration status, sexual orientation, or social security number – except as required by law.

“This is a restriction that directly conflicts with Montana’s prohibition on sanctuary jurisdictions, specifically ‘sending to, receiving from, exchanging with, or maintaining for a federal, state, or local government entity information regarding a person’s citizenship or immigration status for a lawful purpose,’” the attorney general wrote.

If a government is found to be violating Montana’s law banning “sanctuary cities”, the state could fine them $10,000 every five days, prevent them from receiving new grants from the state, and have their projects with the state re-prioritized. A government in violation can avoid penalties by becoming compliant with the law within 14 days of being notified of the violation.

Read the full letter from the Montana Attorney General to the City of Helena:

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Dispatches from the Wild: Montana’s wild inheritance at risk | Explore Big Sky

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

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Dispatches from the Wild: Montana’s wild inheritance at risk | Explore Big Sky

Steve Pearce and the future of the BLM

By Benjamin Alva Polley EBS COLUMNIST

If you care about hunting elk in crisp October air, floating a clear-running river for cutthroat trout, or simply taking your kids camping beneath a sky unspoiled by drill rigs, you should be outraged that Steve Pearce was ever considered to run the Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM is the largest landlord in the West. It oversees nearly 245 million acres of public land—millions of those acres in and around Montana’s most cherished places. This land is the backbone of our elk and mule deer herds, our sage grouse leks, our pronghorn migration routes and our blue-ribbon trout streams. It’s also the stage on which Montana’s hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation economy plays out.

Putting someone with Steve Pearce’s environmental record in charge of that land is like handing your cabin keys to the arsonist who’s always hated it. In the four months since Pearce was first nominated, it emerged that, if confirmed, he and his wife would divest from more than 1,000 oil and gas leases in Oklahoma to address potential conflicts of interest. While some senators strongly support his “active forest management” approach, he still faces opposition from groups alarmed by his record on public land transfers. On March 4, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 11-9 to advance his nomination, despite concerns from conservation groups.

Pearce’s track record is no mystery. He has consistently sided with extractive industries at the expense of wildlife, habitat and public access. He has supported opening more public lands to oil and gas drilling, weakening bedrock environmental safeguards and undermining science-based management. His votes and public statements have signaled again and again that he sees wild country as an obstacle to be overcome, not a legacy to be stewarded.

For Montana, that posture is an existential threat. Our big-game herds rely on intact winter range and unfragmented migration corridors across BLM lands. Aggressive drilling, poorly planned roads and relaxed reclamation standards shred those habitats. Once you carve up a landscape with pads, pipelines and traffic, you don’t get solitude—or mature bull elk—back with the stroke of a pen.

Anglers should be just as alarmed. Headwater streams and riparian corridors on BLM ground are the life support system for native bull trout, cutthroat and wild trout. A BLM director hostile to environmental safeguards is far more likely to greenlight development that increases sediment, degrades water quality and depletes the cold, clean flows our rivers depend on.

If Pearce takes office, outdoor recreation—and the rural economies built around it—will not be spared. In Montana, hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation pump billions of dollars into local businesses, guiding operations, gear shops and main-street cafes. People travel here precisely because of the open space, healthy herds and functioning ecosystems that BLM lands help sustain. When those landscapes are sacrificed to short-term profit, we don’t just lose scenery; we lose jobs, identity and a way of life.

This is not a partisan issue, especially in Montana. Public lands are one of the few things we truly share: ranchers who graze allotments, tribal communities with cultural ties to these places, hunters and anglers who’ve long defended habitat, and families who just want a place to pitch a tent. A BLM director should be a careful, science-driven steward accountable to all Americans—not a politician with a history of dismissing environmental protections as red tape.

Montanans know what’s at stake. We’ve fought bad ideas before—land transfers, giveaway leases, rollbacks to bedrock conservation laws—and we’ve won when we stood together. Steve Pearce’s nomination should have been dead on arrival. The fact that he was even on the list tells us how vigilant we must remain.

Our outrage must translate into action: calling elected officials, packing public hearings, writing letters and voting as if our public lands are on the line. Truly, they are. The BLM needs a director who sees these landscapes the way Montanans do: as sacred ground, not a balance sheet.

Anything less is a betrayal of the wild inheritance we’re supposed to pass on.

Benjamin Alva Polley is a place-based storyteller. His words have been published in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Field & Stream, The Guardian, Men’s Journal, Outside, Popular Science, Sierra, and WWF, among other notable outlets, and are available on his website.