GREAT FALLS — A woman who triggered an hours-long standoff with law enforcement agencies near Zortman in Phillips County this week is facing several criminal charges.
Phillips County Sheriff Lytle said in a news release on Friday, December 6, 2024, that his office received a phone call on Wednesday morning (December 4) from a person reporting that a friend in the Zortman area had called her reporting that her house was on fire. The dispatcher made several phone calls to confirm this but there did not appear to be a fire in that area.
A short time later, dispatch received a 911 call from the woman, identified as 78-year-old Adele Payne, who had claimed her house was on fire and now she was claiming she was pinned down, had no ammunition, and needed law enforcement.
Payne had a felony warrant for her arrest so Sheriff Lytle and Deputy Uphaus drove to her residence in Zortman. Contact was made with Payne but she refused to open the door and appeared in one of the windows of the house holding a revolver.
She then disappeared from the window and a mutual aid request was made by Lytle to obtain assistance from the Northeastern Montana Special Response Team in Glasgow.
Power and gas were cut from the residence. Several team members arrived and contact again was attempted with Payne. Payne fired a round through the window and the incident escalated.
A perimeter was established and a post was made on the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page advising the community of the incident.
Sheriff Lytle said that throughout Wednesday, Payne was repeatedly given the opportunity to surrender but refused. Various methods were deployed in an attempt to gain compliance from Payne but were unsuccessful.
The incident carried over into the night with Payne firing more rounds at law enforcement and numerous techniques were employed in an attempt to gain compliance of Payne so she would surrender, but she continued to refuse.
On Thursday, communications were made with Payne. She seemed more compliant so entry was made into the home and she was taken into custody.
Sheriff Lytle says at this point, she is being charged with several counts of criminal endangerment and resisting arrest, as well as the charges associated with the initial arrest warrant.
Sheriff Lytle thanked the citizens and neighbors who cooperated with the shelter-in-place request and staying away from the location during this incident.
Sheriff Lytle also thanked the following agencies for assisting and bringing their knowledge and expertise to help in the resolution of this incident: Gallatin County Sheriff s Office/Montana Sheriff’s Mutual Aid program, Phillips County Fire Department, Phillips County Ambulance Service, US Border Patrol, Valley County Sheriff’s Office, Glasgow Police Department, Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, Montana Highway Patrol, McCone County Sheriff’s Office, Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office, Petroleum County Sheriff’s Office, Fergus County Sheriff’s Office, Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, and Bureau of Land Management Fire Station on Zortman.
