Two elusive drug runners, who helped bring large amounts of methamphetamine into Montana, pleaded guilty in federal court in Helena Thursday to conspiring to distribute the highly addictive drug.

Marvin Mullen, 58, called by one drug dealer "the man" for meth in Montana, and Marlena Harriger, 45, face a minimum of 10 years in prison, and could receive a life sentence.

Bill Mercer, U.S. Attorney for Montana, said that both Mullen and Harriger were "major dealers" and more arrests are pending.

"We're not done yet," Mercer said. "I expect more indictments related to this."

The two managed to stay one step ahead of authorities until recently, with Mullen eluding capture once by running off in blizzard-like conditions outside of White Sulphur Springs, after a truck in which he was a passenger was pulled over by a Meagher County sheriff's deputy.

But he also was caught multiple times, including arrests in Bozeman and St. Regis.

The problems that brought them before U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Lovell on Thursday began on May 18, 2006, when Mullen was arrested at a motel in Bozeman. Methamphetamine, marijuana, various prescription pills and a drug ledger were found in his room, according to court documents.

Mullen paid an attorney $20,000 in cash to defend him, with $11,500 of that in $100 bills or greater denominations. That money was confiscated.

Then in September 2006, Bozeman detectives were watching a suspected drug dealer at another Bozeman motel. In one of the rooms where a suspected drug deal went down, they found contraband, cash and identifying documents for Harriger and Mullen.

The suspect police were watching allegedly admitted renting the rooms to sell meth for Mullen and Harriger in exchange for meth for his own personal use.

Detectives contacted Harriger and asked her to come to the motel to meet with them regarding a search of her room.

She never showed.

Then, on Jan. 13, 2007, Mullen was arrested for smoking drugs in a parked vehicle at Haugen, a small town near the Montana/Idaho border. Officers found a container of meth, marijuana and $10,000 in cash in his pocket, along with a key that unlocked a door to a St. Regis motel room.

A search of the hotel in St. Regis turned up almost 700 grams -- about 1.5 pounds -- of meth and $8,400 in cash.

Yet Mullen once again got out of jail. He surfaced on March 28 in Meagher County, when a deputy stopped a truck in which Mullen was a passenger.

He knew a warrant had been issued for his arrest, so as the deputy dealt with the driver, Mullen leapt from the car and took off running. Because of blizzard-like conditions, the deputy lost sight of him.

"Even my dog couldn't track him," said Sheriff Rick Seidlitz. "We turned the case over to the Missouri River Drug Task Force and the DEA (federal Drug Enforcement Administration)."

The truck was registered to Harriger, and allegedly contained 11 grams of meth, assorted pills, drug paraphernalia, $4,250 in cash, five rounds of .30 carbine ammo and an Army flak jacket.

By this point, law enforcement officials made a concerted effort to nab Harriger.

Between April 11-14, 2007, Helena detectives used a confidential informant to call Harriger to buy 4 ounces of meth. She came to Helena April 24, and sold 43 grams of pure meth to the informant for $4,500.

She was promptly arrested.

Detectives found more meth in her purse, along with $1,973 in cash.

Harriger allegedly told the detectives she got large quantities of meth from a guy known only as "J" in Oregon, and that she and Mullen would bring meth to Montana about once a month.

Mullen surfaced again on May 7, when an officer near the town of Sawyer's Bar in northern California stopped a motor home registered to Harriger and driven by Mullen. A different, unidentified woman was in the motor home.

When the officer ran Mullen's name through the police computer, he found a warrant for Mullen's arrest that listed him as "armed and dangerous."

Mullen once again tried to flee, this time down a steep embankment. He fell into the Salmon River and was drawn under the water by the current, but the officer rescued and arrested him.

Meanwhile, the woman in the motor home drove off.

Mullen told the officer he had guns and dope in the car, and that he ran because he feared going to prison for life on drug charges out of Montana, according to court documents. He also allegedly said he was going to Sawyer's Bar to meet a friend and "establish a marijuana grow so he could afford to get an attorney for his Montana case."

Meanwhile, other deputies had pursued the motor home and pulled it over. They allegedly found a partially full box of .17-caliber full-metal jacketed ammo, drug paraphernalia, meth, marijuana and $4,250 in rolled up currency concealed in two shoes.

The woman said she threw guns out the window when she drove away, and officers searching the area found a Ruger .22 pistol, a .500 Smith and Wesson revolver, three rifle scopes, a cell phone, a laser rangefinder and a mirror with the chemical compound for cocaine written on it.

Back in Montana, a confidential informant told officers on May 15 that Mullen was a large-scale meth dealer in Bozeman and the White Sulphur Springs area, and that a man the informant bought meth from in Townsend described Mullen as "the man" when it came to selling meth.

The informant also said he met an associate of Mullen's at Newlan Creek Reservoir near White Sulphur Springs, and saw two duffle bags in the back seat of associate's truck with "numerous small bricks" of an unknown substance.

That associate's home in White Sulphur Springs was searched on June 25, and officers allegedly seized more than 80 grams of cocaine and a few grams of meth.

The associate, who wasn't identified in court documents, said Mullen gave him the drugs in the summer of 2006. He added that some Mexican nationals had recently come to White Sulphur Springs to develop former drug customers of Mullen.

Sheriff Seidlitz said the case against the White Sulphur Springs man is "an ongoing case," which is why the associate's name wasn't released.

On Oct. 11, Harriger admitted that she and Mullen agreed, along with several other people, to distribute methamphetamine in Montana.

Mullen confirmed her statement on Nov. 20.

Harriger was released on special conditions after Thursday's hearing. Mullen remains behind bars. Both are slated to be sentenced Feb. 28.

Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com