Arlee man admits to sexual assault

POLSON — An Arlee man admitted to committing the crime of sexual assault as part of his plea agreement last Wednesday in Lake County District Court.

Dennis Gillingham pleaded guilty to amended charges after he was originally accused of sexually abusing a minor multiple times over a span of almost 10 years.

According to the plea agreement, Gillingham will get a 15-year suspended sentence and 30 days house arrest, while being designated a sexual offender. However, the state or Gillingham could pull out of the agreement, pending a psycho-sexual evaluation.

According to court documents, if Gillingham is determined to be a Level 1 sex offender, the plea agreement remains valid. If he is considered a Level 2 or 3 sex offender, both sides have the option of nixing the agreement.

Documents state Gillingham had sexual contact with a minor and forced the minor to participate in sex acts beginning in the late ‘90s and ending several years ago. The defendant had been the victim’s babysitter from about the age of four to sometime around age 12.

Police became aware of the alleged abuse this spring when they received a complaint from the victim’s mother. The court affidavit states that the victim told her that Gillingham had “done bad things” to her.

The young woman told the investigator that, on at least more than 30 occasions, the defendant used clothesline and handkerchiefs to tie her to a tree stump with nails and then performed sex acts on her.

Based on that evidence, investigators executed a search warrant on the defendant’s residence; inside the home he found several tree stumps. A relative of Gillingham told investigators that the defendant used tree stumps for “almost everything.”

During the search, investigators discovered a tree stump with nails in it, but when he showed it to the victim, they said it was not the one Gillingham had tied her to. Another of the defendant’s relatives informed investigators that he believed the defendant no longer possessed the tree stump the victim described.

Also found at Gillingham’s residence was a rope and pulley, used to dry clothes, consistent with the clotheslines described by the victim.

Sexual assault in Montana is a felony that carries maximum penalty of life in prison or 100 years and a fine of $50,000.

The defendant’s counsel said that an evaluation needs to take place before sentencing, and the court granted that request.

Sentencing was set for Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 at 9 a.m.