Woman gets five years for prostitution in Dasen case

Court officials encouraged a 24-year-old woman to turn her life around as she was sentenced to 10 years with five suspended Wednesday for aggravated promotion of prostitution and theft.

Kimberly Neise admitted recruiting two teenage girls to sexually entertain Dick Dasen Sr. in July 2003. Dasen also is charged in the matter.

She also was convicted of stealing checks from her grandmother; a felony charge of forgery from the same event in July 2003 was dropped.

She pleaded guilty to the two charges in September, saying she received between $35,000 and $50,000 from Dasen. She said she engaged in sex with him and brought him willing females.

Neise has been in jail since she turned herself in on a warrant in February.

"Kim's attitude has changed remarkably in the last year" since she's been inn jail, said her defense attorney, Ed Falla.

"I noticed that, just in my encounters with her in this room," District Judge Ted Lympus said.

Neise has admitted to a methamphetamine addiction that clouded her judgment. However, a pre-sentence report, referred to at her sentencing, indicates her problems predate that. She was in trouble as a juvenile, the report said.

Neise nodded when prosecuting Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski said she has "been to pretty awful places" and that the jail has "been the best place she's been in a long time."

Guzynski lauded Neise's courage for admitting her guilt. He believes that if it hadn't been for the meth, she wouldn't have involved herself with the activities she did.

She was silent and tearful throughout the sentencing hearing, wearing jail-issue sweatpants and top, her forearm tattooed with the line, "Legalize freedom."

Lympus agreed with a plea deal that gives Neise 10 years with 5 suspended on each charge. They'll run concurrently.

Sentenced to the Department of Corrections, Neise will likely go through an addiction program and then through a pre-release program before she is paroled.

"She is anxiously awaiting treatment," Guzynski said.

Once out, she can't associate with old friends who use methamphetamine, according to the sentence.

"It's still up to you, Kim," Lympus said. "You're the one who has to make the effort here."