A Havre man pleaded not guilty Monday to 32 felony counts of sexual abuse of children after hundreds of partially nude images of his girlfriend’s teenage daughter were discovered on his laptop.
Gary L. Peterson, 37, had previously pleaded not guilty to one count of felony sexual abuse of children.
On June 6, Havre police were told that 20 to 30 printed images of a partially undressed teenage girl had been discovered in a storage area at the Human Resources Development Council office in Havre. The images were later identified as being of Peterson’s girlfriend’s teenage daughter.
When asked about the photographs, the teenage girl said she had taken them herself but did not give them to Peterson and did not know how Peterson might have obtained them. During questioning, Peterson allegedly told police investigators that he knew about the images, but had gotten them by accident when he stopped by his house to pick up a camera to take work-related photographs. Peterson claimed the photographs of his girlfriend’s daughter were already on the camera when he picked it up, and that he had downloaded them inadvertently.
When police searched the home where Peterson, his girlfriend and the teenage girl lived, they found a “pencil sized” hole punched into the wall of a bathroom the teenage girl had frequently used. A box was affixed to the opposite side of the hole, aligned in such a way that a camera could be positioned there — although no camera was found in the box at the time the search warrant was executed. Creep!
A subsequent forensic search of Peterson’s laptop and an additional electronic storage device uncovered more than 350 electronic images and two videos. Of these, the vast majority were of Peterson’s girlfriend’s teenage daughter.
District Court Judge Dan Boucher has scheduled an April 27 trial date for Peterson.
Another 'Mom's boyfriend' child molester.
One count of sexual assault has been dismissed and a second reduced to criminal endangerment in the prosecution of a Great Falls man accused of molesting and/or raping two children.
Lupe Barron, 33, was charged last July with molesting an 11-year-old boy and raping the boy's 7-year-old sister.
According to the charging documents, Barron has admitted to intentionally touching the 11-year-old boy in a sexual way and that he was sexually attracted to him. Detectives investigating the case subsequently found sexual images on Barron's cell phone appearently involving the boy's 7-year-old sister. The girl allegedly told investigators she had been involved in a sex act with Barron. Court documents state Barron admitted the 7-year-old was the subject of the photograph found on his cell phone, but denied taking the photograph.
In August 201,4 Barron faced four felony sex crime charges with a cumulative potential penalty of 100-years in prison. Barron initially pled not guilty to the charges, which were later amended to two counts of felony sexual assault.
At a change of plea hearing last Friday, county prosecutors submitted a plea agreement in exchange for Barron's guilty plea. The plea agreement recommends dismissing one of the sexual assault charges and reducing the second to a charge of felony criminal endangerment. If convicted on the criminal endangerment charge, Barron would face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. However, county prosecutors are recommending no additional jail time, that Barron receive a three-year deferred sentence, be registered as a sexual offender and successfully complete a sexual offender treatment program.
The terms of the plea agreement are not binding upon the court. A court official indicated it was unlikely Judge John Warner would accept the Cascade County Attorney's Office's sentencing recommendations.
A Feb. 18 sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Barron.
BILLINGS (AP) – A 54-year-old man has pleaded guilty to seven felony charges for raping and sexually abused two girls for years.
The Billings Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1IxU1HY ) Franz Joseph Diangson pleaded guilty Monday to six counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of sexual assault.
Prosecutors are recommending a 40-year prison sentence with 20 suspended and that he complete sex offender treatment. A sentencing date has not been set.
Charging documents allege Diangson began sexually abusing one girl in 1997, when she was 10, and continued until she was 17. The second girl said she was abused from age 8 to 14.
The girls said Diangson threatened to hurt them or their mother if they reported the abuse.
One of the girls told her mother in August 2010. Diangson was charged in November 2012 and has remained jailed since then.
He is not charged with uttering threats?
A Great Falls man has been sentence to 10 years in prison following his prior conviction for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Charles Thomas Miesmer, 54, was charged last January with felony intercourse without consent and aggravated kidnapping. In a plea agreement with the Cascade County Attorney's Office, Meismer pleaded guilty to felony sexual assault.
Charging documents state the girl was playing at her mother's apartment building in December 2013, when Miesmer grabbed her by the arm and took her to his apartment. There, Miesmer allegedly undressed the 13-year-old and sexually assaulted her over a 20- to 30-minute period.
On Monday, District Court Judge John Warner sentenced Miesmer to 10 years in prison with six years suspended. Meismer must also register as a tier 2 sexual offender. Are you kidding me? He'll be out in less than 4 years; what kind of sentence is that?
According to court documents, Miesmer is a friend of the girl's mother and had exchanged text messages with the 13-year-old prior to the assault. The girl told police she had told her mother about the incident with Miesmer, but her mother did not report it to police. It is unclear how detectives were alerted to the alleged assault.
There goes her 'mother-of-the-year' award. Obviously, her friend is more important than her daughter. God help the poor little girl.
HELENA (AP) – The Montana Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Kalispell man who is serving a 40-year sentence for sexually assaulting and raping a 9-year-old girl.
The high court ruled on Dec. 30 that District Judge Ted Lympus allowed jurors to hear testimony about Thomas Richard Nichols' sexual habits that was inflammatory, unfairly prejudicial and likely contributed to his November 2011 conviction.
Nichols objected to the questioning at trial. But it was overruled after prosecutors argued that defense counsel opened the door to the questioning when the defense attorney said Nichols had no reason to molest the girl because he had a healthy, active sex life with his girlfriend.
The girl reported Nichols assaulted her in February 2010. He was tried and convicted in November 2011.
Nichols appealed in March 2014, arguing that the details of his sex life were irrelevant and were admitted for the purposes of alienating the jury and obtaining a conviction in a weak case.
The state also argued the testimony of Nichols' girlfriend, when compared to audio recordings of jailhouse conversations, helped jurors decide if she was testifying truthfully.
Justices found that testimony about Nichols' seeking other sex partners or potential dominance over his girlfriend could have been explored without getting into specific details.
"The kind of evidence and testimony they elicited in that case was just outrageous and shouldn't have been allowed — and the court rightly saw it that way," Nichols' appellate attorney, Gregory Birdsong of Missoula, said Monday.
Deputy Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner couldn't be reached Monday to say whether he would re-file the charges.
Nichols, 25, was listed as an inmate at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby on Monday.
Gary L. Peterson, 37, had previously pleaded not guilty to one count of felony sexual abuse of children.
When asked about the photographs, the teenage girl said she had taken them herself but did not give them to Peterson and did not know how Peterson might have obtained them. During questioning, Peterson allegedly told police investigators that he knew about the images, but had gotten them by accident when he stopped by his house to pick up a camera to take work-related photographs. Peterson claimed the photographs of his girlfriend’s daughter were already on the camera when he picked it up, and that he had downloaded them inadvertently.
When police searched the home where Peterson, his girlfriend and the teenage girl lived, they found a “pencil sized” hole punched into the wall of a bathroom the teenage girl had frequently used. A box was affixed to the opposite side of the hole, aligned in such a way that a camera could be positioned there — although no camera was found in the box at the time the search warrant was executed. Creep!
A subsequent forensic search of Peterson’s laptop and an additional electronic storage device uncovered more than 350 electronic images and two videos. Of these, the vast majority were of Peterson’s girlfriend’s teenage daughter.
District Court Judge Dan Boucher has scheduled an April 27 trial date for Peterson.
Another 'Mom's boyfriend' child molester.
One count of sexual assault has been dismissed and a second reduced to criminal endangerment in the prosecution of a Great Falls man accused of molesting and/or raping two children.
Lupe Barron, 33, was charged last July with molesting an 11-year-old boy and raping the boy's 7-year-old sister.
According to the charging documents, Barron has admitted to intentionally touching the 11-year-old boy in a sexual way and that he was sexually attracted to him. Detectives investigating the case subsequently found sexual images on Barron's cell phone appearently involving the boy's 7-year-old sister. The girl allegedly told investigators she had been involved in a sex act with Barron. Court documents state Barron admitted the 7-year-old was the subject of the photograph found on his cell phone, but denied taking the photograph.
In August 201,4 Barron faced four felony sex crime charges with a cumulative potential penalty of 100-years in prison. Barron initially pled not guilty to the charges, which were later amended to two counts of felony sexual assault.
At a change of plea hearing last Friday, county prosecutors submitted a plea agreement in exchange for Barron's guilty plea. The plea agreement recommends dismissing one of the sexual assault charges and reducing the second to a charge of felony criminal endangerment. If convicted on the criminal endangerment charge, Barron would face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. However, county prosecutors are recommending no additional jail time, that Barron receive a three-year deferred sentence, be registered as a sexual offender and successfully complete a sexual offender treatment program.
The terms of the plea agreement are not binding upon the court. A court official indicated it was unlikely Judge John Warner would accept the Cascade County Attorney's Office's sentencing recommendations.
A Feb. 18 sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Barron.
BILLINGS (AP) – A 54-year-old man has pleaded guilty to seven felony charges for raping and sexually abused two girls for years.
The Billings Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1IxU1HY ) Franz Joseph Diangson pleaded guilty Monday to six counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of sexual assault.
Prosecutors are recommending a 40-year prison sentence with 20 suspended and that he complete sex offender treatment. A sentencing date has not been set.
Charging documents allege Diangson began sexually abusing one girl in 1997, when she was 10, and continued until she was 17. The second girl said she was abused from age 8 to 14.
The girls said Diangson threatened to hurt them or their mother if they reported the abuse.
One of the girls told her mother in August 2010. Diangson was charged in November 2012 and has remained jailed since then.
He is not charged with uttering threats?
A Great Falls man has been sentence to 10 years in prison following his prior conviction for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Charles Thomas Miesmer, 54, was charged last January with felony intercourse without consent and aggravated kidnapping. In a plea agreement with the Cascade County Attorney's Office, Meismer pleaded guilty to felony sexual assault.
On Monday, District Court Judge John Warner sentenced Miesmer to 10 years in prison with six years suspended. Meismer must also register as a tier 2 sexual offender. Are you kidding me? He'll be out in less than 4 years; what kind of sentence is that?
According to court documents, Miesmer is a friend of the girl's mother and had exchanged text messages with the 13-year-old prior to the assault. The girl told police she had told her mother about the incident with Miesmer, but her mother did not report it to police. It is unclear how detectives were alerted to the alleged assault.
There goes her 'mother-of-the-year' award. Obviously, her friend is more important than her daughter. God help the poor little girl.
HELENA (AP) – The Montana Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Kalispell man who is serving a 40-year sentence for sexually assaulting and raping a 9-year-old girl.
The high court ruled on Dec. 30 that District Judge Ted Lympus allowed jurors to hear testimony about Thomas Richard Nichols' sexual habits that was inflammatory, unfairly prejudicial and likely contributed to his November 2011 conviction.
Nichols objected to the questioning at trial. But it was overruled after prosecutors argued that defense counsel opened the door to the questioning when the defense attorney said Nichols had no reason to molest the girl because he had a healthy, active sex life with his girlfriend.
The girl reported Nichols assaulted her in February 2010. He was tried and convicted in November 2011.
Nichols appealed in March 2014, arguing that the details of his sex life were irrelevant and were admitted for the purposes of alienating the jury and obtaining a conviction in a weak case.
The state also argued the testimony of Nichols' girlfriend, when compared to audio recordings of jailhouse conversations, helped jurors decide if she was testifying truthfully.
Justices found that testimony about Nichols' seeking other sex partners or potential dominance over his girlfriend could have been explored without getting into specific details.
"The kind of evidence and testimony they elicited in that case was just outrageous and shouldn't have been allowed — and the court rightly saw it that way," Nichols' appellate attorney, Gregory Birdsong of Missoula, said Monday.
Deputy Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner couldn't be reached Monday to say whether he would re-file the charges.
Nichols, 25, was listed as an inmate at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby on Monday.
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