Sentence is upheld in Neep case

SANDPOINT — The Idaho Court of Appeals is upholding the judgment and sentence imposed against a Washington state man convicted of illegally possessing firearms during a missing person investigation on the southeast side of Lake Pend Oreille.

Danny Harold Neep was found in possession of a 20-gauge shotgun and .22-caliber rifle in September 2017 while driving in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains. Neep was prohibited from possessing firearms due to a 1999 conviction in El Norte County, Calif., for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Neep was also convicted of forgery in 1976 in Placer County, Calif., according to court documents.

Neep’s arrest coincided with ground and aerial searches in the vicinity of U.S. Forest Service Road No. 278 for Mirissa Serrano, a 27-year-old Montana woman.

Neep pleaded guilty to the weapons offenses and Judge Barbara Buchanan ordered him to serve a two- to four-year term. Neep argued on appeal that the court abused its discretion in imposing the sentence.

The appeals court, however, ruled the court had not abused its discretion and upheld the judgment and sentence in the case, according to an unpublished opinion released by the court on Feb. 25.

Neep, a 62-year-old from Spokane, is serving his sentence at the Idaho State Correctional Center in Kuna, according to the Idaho Department of Correction. He becomes eligible for parole next year.

Bonner County sheriff’s officials said Serrano’s remains were discovered by a hunter off Road No. 278 in September 2018. A cause of death was not disclosed, although authorities said they were investigating the case as a homicide. Detectives from Bonner and Missoula counties, in addition to Forest Service special agents and forensic scientists from the University of Montana, converged on the site of the discovery to recover the Lolo woman’s body and gather evidence.

Neep drew scrutiny because he was the last person to see her before she disappeared, according to Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank. However, Neep has not been charged in connection with Serrano’s disappearance or death.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.