Ronan man accused of obtaining sexual child abuse material
Anthony Joseph Spalliero
A Ronan man is accused of misrepresenting himself on social media to obtain explicit images of an underage girl, and threatening her to get her to send more.
Anthony Joseph Spalliero, 47, entered a plea of not guilty in District Court in Polson on Aug. 14 to eight felony counts of sexual abuse of children and one count of felony intimidation.
According to court records, the investigation into Spalliero began Aug. 4 after the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by a 17-year-old girl to report that Spalliero was threatening her over the phone.
Initially, she did not want law enforcement to respond, but deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office provided extra patrol near the girl's home. About 90 minutes later, she called back to report that Spalliero was outside her home and driving a gray SUV.
She informed deputies that she began communicating with Spalliero on a social media platform over a year ago and thought Spalliero was 19 years old. She also indicated that she had shared explicit images of herself with him and that he was now allegedly threatening harm to her, her family, and pets if she didn’t send more.
About that same time, the deputies on extra patrol in the area saw a gray SUV matching the description of Spalliero’s SUV.
Spalliero allegedly texted the girl, “I see you called the cops.” As the deputies were attempting to read the license plate of the gray SUV, it crashed, and Spalliero was transported to a hospital in Missoula with unspecified injuries. The deputies collected the girl’s phone.
Spalliero was released from the hospital Aug. 5 and arrested at his residence.
A different 17-year-old girl was living with Spalliero at the time and the deputies collected her phone. Six explicit images of the initial reporting party and 17 explicit images of the girl at Spalliero’s residence were allegedly on one phone. Another phone allegedly had about 1,000 images of sexual child abuse material or SCAM.
Judge Molly Owen set the case for trial Feb. 3, 2025. Spalliero remains in the Lake County Jail with bail set at $500,000.