Former Babb Resident Sentenced to Prison for Strangulation

GREAT FALLS - The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Tyrell Belgarde, a 28-year-old former resident of Babb, was sentenced to 27 months in prison follow by two years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided over the hearing.  Belgarde previously entered a guilty plea to strangulation in February of 2018.

In July 2016, Belgarde was drinking alcohol with friends at a friend’s home on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.  Belgarde and the victim had an argument and Belgarde became angry, calling the victim several highly offensive names before biting the victim’s arm.  Belgarde then grabbed the victim by the neck with both hands, and squeezed the victim’s neck until the victim lost consciousness.

In a sentencing memorandum filed in federal court, federal prosecutors noted that Native American women experience the highest rates of domestic violence compared to all other groups in the United States and that the seriousness of Belgarde’s conduct cannot be overstated.  Belgarde’s pattern of conduct showed an escalation of violent abuse when he committed another violent assault on the same victim in Missoula in April of 2017 where he beat the victim and held a loaded gun to the victim’s head.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Cobell and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other federal, state, and local agencies.