About seven months after the Helena area was plagued by a rash of vandalism that left dozens of vehicles and businesses with broken windows, law enforcement officers believe they may have found the culprits who caused some of the damage.

Lewis and Clark County prosecutors allege that 17-year-old Julian T. McNees and another 17-year-old boy were responsible for at least a portion of the vandalism that extended throughout the city and county over a period of several weeks.

According to detectives with the Helena Police Department, information about the vandalism began trickling in recently, after several months of silence in the case.

Initially, detectives began receiving reports that McNees had pointed a gun at a 13-year-old boy on the street on July 26. The boy reported that McNees was driving by him, called out his name, then showed him a pistol.

Officers searched McNees' vehicle, and failed to recover a gun. However, an informant later revealed to police that McNees had a BB gun, and that McNees told him about the incident with the 13-year-old.

Another source told detectives that McNees had disposed of the BB gun in an irrigation canal on N. Montana Avenue. The gun was later recovered by officers.

The informants also led detectives to the 17-year-old charged in the case.

The 17-year-old confirmed he was with McNees on the day he pointed the BB gun at the 13-year-old, and added that he and McNees had used the BB gun to shoot out some windows earlier in the year.

As a result of the investigation, the 17-year-old was charged with criminal mischief.

McNees was charged in adult court with assault with a weapon in connection with pointing the BB gun at the 13-year-old boy. Montana law required that McNees be charged as an adult due to the severity of the crime. However, the case has been handed back down to Youth Court.

At the same time as they filed the assault with a weapon charge against McNees, prosecutors filed a petition to revoke a previously suspended juvenile sentence on the basis that McNees was allegedly involved in the vandalism. In addition, they alleged that he tampered with evidence in the case by disposing of the gun in the irrigation canal.

McNees' co-defendant was charged in Youth Court with criminal mischief.

The 17-year-old is not named in this article due to a newspaper policy not to release of the names of juveniles unless they are first charged in adult court.

Deputy County Attorney Tara Harris said Friday that, should the youths admit to the charges against them, restitution likely will be ordered. However, an amount has yet to be established.