On Friday night a routine traffic stop led to multiple felony charges for a man who is no stranger to the Missoula Jail. Missoula Police Public Information officer Travis Welsh explains.

“An officer initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle that he had observed failing to yield in the intersection of Catlin and South 3rd,” Welsh said. “The vehicle eventually came to a stop at the intersection of Prince and South 4th. The officer made contact with the driver who admitted he did not have a valid license or insurance for his vehicle.”

While gathering the suspect’s information, the officer noticed drug related items in the car and asked to conduct a search.

“He was identified as 53-year-old Curtis Gainer,” Welsh said. “Gainer consented to a search and drug paraphernalia was found inside his vehicle. During the course of that search, the officer reported that Gainer removed an item from his person and threw it on the ground. That item was later determined to be a small amount of heroin.”

Gainer is facing a felony charge for drug possession and another for tampering with evidence as well as a felony probation violation. It turns out that Gainer was already sentenced this year to 18 months in jail after being convicted of felony reckless endangerment. In May of last year, he led police on a high speed chase through town in a vehicle that wasn’t his. That pursuit ended in a crash and a foot chase in which Gainer was caught when police used a K9 unit to help track him down.

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