A man who authorities say had a hand in killing three women at a Florence hair salon in 2001 pleaded guilty Thursday to federal drug charges - a move that, under a proposed plea agreement, will clear him of the grisly murders.

Lincoln C. Benavides appeared at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula wearing tan slacks and a dress shirt, his hair braided in a tight ponytail. The 35-year-old Idaho man stood at a podium beside his attorney and spoke articulately, describing his role peddling methamphetamine throughout western Montana. He then set his jaw, rolled back his bowling ball shoulders and listened as a judge explained how federal sentencing guidelines could still net him a term of life in prison, plea deal or no plea deal.

In April 2008, a federal grand jury charged Benavides and a co-defendant with murder, racketeering and selling meth. Prosecutors laid out a scenario in which a sprawling drug conspiracy led to the brutal deaths of Brenda Patch, Dorothy Harris and Cynthia Paulus, three women whose bodies were found eight years ago Friday at the Hair Gallery in Florence.

Benavides is a convicted drug dealer already serving a state prison term. He admitted Thursday to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine.

Under a recent plea deal shaped by prosecutors and defense attorneys, Benavides will not be held culpable for the triple murder. In exchange for his guilty pleas to the drug charges, prosecutors are beholden to recommend a 30-year prison sentence. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 23, 2010, when the murder charges will be formally dismissed, assuming a judge accepts the agreement.

Several family members observed Thursday's proceedings, but none objected when U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy offered them an opportunity to speak out. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thaggard, who is prosecuting the case, explained that he met with the family members last month and explained the purpose of the plea deal; while not all family members fully supported it, they did not object, he said.

But even with a signed plea agreement in place, Molloy has the final say at sentencing. Even if the judge accepts the plea deal, he could still sentence Benavides to the maximum punishment of life in prison, and the defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. The federal drug sentence will either run concurrent to or consecutive with the 30-year state sentence, a portion of which is suspended.

Meanwhile, co-defendant Brian W. Weber, 33, maintains his pleas of innocence in the case and is slated to go to trial on the drug and murder charges in March, before Benavides' case is officially adjudicated.

The 15-count indictment alleges that Benavides and Weber were part of a drug ring that supplied large amounts of methamphetamine to smaller-scale dealers throughout the region, and that the murders were carried out in an effort to collect a drug debt.

In 2005, investigators began looking at the possibility that a larger drug conspiracy led to the Florence murders. In a telephone interview, Weber told the Missoulian that he'd been questioned about statements made by Benavides - who was also questioned about the murders - that linked Weber to the crime.

In that line of questioning, Weber said, authorities outlined a situation in which Benavides was owed money by one of the victim's relatives. Weber said authorities suggested to him that Benavides had perhaps sent Weber to settle the debt, an order that somehow led to the homicides.

According to court records, Benavides was the leader of the drug ring, while Weber was a lower-level distributor. He was also an enforcer for Benavides, beating up and threatening other dealers who fell behind on payments.

"In the event customers could not or would not repay their debts, Lincoln Benavides or one of his surrogates would utilize violence or the threat of violence to directly procure the owed money, to encourage later payment, or to send a disciplinary message to that person and others," according to the indictment.

The grand jury indictment did not accuse Benavides of personally or directly killing the victims. Instead, it alleges that Benavides "counseled, commanded, induced or procured the killings of the victims."

In the charges against Weber, however, the document explicitly lists intentional acts leading to the triple homicide, which shook communities up and down the Bitterroot Valley.

Benavides was charged in state court in 2001 for selling multiple pounds of meth to an undercover federal agent in Lake County. He was eventually released on bail, however, and fled Montana. Benavides went to Mexico and eventually settled in Texas, where he continued selling drugs in Idaho and western Montana by employing couriers.

He was arrested at a family function in Wisconsin and sentenced on the drug charges in 2004.

Judge Molloy has set a March 1, 2010, trial date in the Weber case. The trial will last at least one month, and will feature scores of witnesses and investigative documents from the past eight years.

Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com.