By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An admitted drug dealer from Sand Springs has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in the heroin overdose death of 29-year-old Jamie Bear at her Perkins apartment in 2019.
Noah Reimer Montague, 28, had been scheduled to stand trial on a first-degree murder charge on April 10 in Payne County for furnishing the drug that killed the young woman, who had recently moved to Perkins.
Instead of facing a jury, Montague accepted a plea agreement last week with the prosecution for a 15-year prison term followed by five years of probation, court records show. He remains jailed pending his sentencing on April 10 before Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling.
Perkins Police Chief Bob Ernst emphasized, “Drug dealers need to be held accountable.
“We (Perkins PD) worked this with OSBI, TPD, DEA, and it was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.
“We did not just work an overdose death; we worked the death as a murder to hold the drug dealer accountable.”
The victim’s boyfriend, James Josiah Ramos, 33, of Tulsa, who admitted in a preliminary hearing to buying the heroin that killed her, remains jailed on a second-degree murder charge pending an April 14 court appearance before Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley.
“Jamie was beautiful,” her sister, Mary Lobo, told a KUSH reporter during a court recess in the preliminary hearing in 2021.
“Even though she struggled for so long, she would have long periods — one year or two years — when she was sober.
“Our family always helped her. We didn’t judge her. We just wanted her safe. She got clean that summer,” only months before her death.
“She tried so hard. We were so proud of her — she was such a strong fighter,” her sister said.
But on the day before she died, Ramos, who had gotten out of jail a few days earlier, bought half a gram of heroin for $50 from Montague at a convenience store in Tulsa on Sept. 9, 2019, according to his preliminary hearing testimony.
Even though Ramos and his girlfriend, who had dated off and on for eight years, had been clean for months, “We used right there in the parking lot,” after buying syringes at a pharmacy in Tulsa to inject the heroin, he testified.
“I got hazy after that. We went back to Perkins around dinner time. We used (again) before we went to bed about 10 pm,” Ramos testified.
“We’d been sober for so long. It was real intense. I had shallow breathing,” Ramos testified.
When he woke up the next morning, Ramos testified, “I’m still kinda high. Her presence is not there. I started shaking her.
“I started freaking out. I’m pretty sure I checked her pulse. My hands were shaking. I think I was in shock. I didn’t know what to do.
“I didn’t know if she was still alive. We used the night before. We were fine when we went to sleep.
“I called a friend of ours. He said call EMSA. I didn’t know the address,” of her new apartment in Perkins, Ramos testified — admitting he didn’t call 911.
“He said ‘pick up your stuff and leave.’ I left for 5-10 minutes. When I got back, a cop car was there. There was some heroin in the cell phone case,” Ramos testified.
On cross-examination from the drug dealer’s attorney Zack Smith, Ramos admitted he had been convicted of at least 10 felonies including burglary, larceny, domestic violence, and passing a forged instrument. Ramos added, “I’m in drug court right now,” during his preliminary hearing testimony.
Ramos said he had been addicted to heroin since 2010 or 2011. Before his girlfriend’s death, “She looked healthy and sober.
“It never crossed my mind you can go to sleep and not wake up,” Ramos testified.
The Perkins police chief testified that on Sept. 10, 2019, “We received a telephone call to go to that address. Nobody came to the door that was unlocked. The back door was standing open.
“In the northwest upstairs bedroom, we discovered the body of a deceased female covered with a blanket,” who appeared to have died from a drug overdose. He testified that officers had gone to the victim’s apartment for a welfare check based on an anonymous phone call to Perkins City Hall.
DEA agent Andy Dawson, who assisted in the investigation, testified that the drug dealer told him “he sold to approximately 10 people.”
Montague “said he sold to Mr. Ramos on Sept. 9, 2019,” the narcotics agent testified — adding that Montague “knew it was dangerous — he had friends who died of overdose.”
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Dane Towery, who prosecuted the Payne County case that was originally filed in Tulsa County, said the medical examiner’s report showed the cause of the victim’s death as acute heroin toxicity.
