Dasen seen as 'angel of mercy'

Defense witnesses Monday described defendant Dick Dasen Sr. as a man who gave to strangers and friends without expectation of any return.

Defense witnesses Monday described defendant Dick Dasen Sr. as a man who gave to strangers and friends without expectation of any return.

"I called him an angel of mercy," said Susan Swartz, whose work with the Violence Free Crisis Line led her to Dasen as a source of help.

"He never refused us," coming up with money for people who needed transportation or housing, she said.

Her opinion of Dasen has changed since he was charged with sexual crimes against some of the people he helped. She didn't want to testify on his behalf, she said. She appeared under subpoena by defense attorney George Best.

Dasen faces 13 charges related to prostitution, with the most serious including sexual intercourse without consent and sexual exploitation of children.

Swartz said she never referred people in need directly to Dasen, but acted as their emissary. She's glad now that she didn't send women to Dasen personally, she said.

But under questioning by Best, Swartz said Dasen reliably gave money to people who needed it, without knowing who they were, without ever saying no, without once asking for repayment.

David Tonjum, a 40-year business partner in City Service and a friend of Dasen's since they were in college in Michigan, also described Dasen as "a very generous person.

"He just couldn't say no to people," Tonjum said. "That was one of Dick's weaknesses… Through the years, I felt there were people taking advantage of Dick."

He didn't know that Dasen was "cheating" on his wife, as Best characterized it.

"I don't like what he did to his wife and his family and all those sorts of things," Tonjum said.

Tonjum was a beneficiary of Dasen's generosity, himself, he said. Dasen made Tonjum his partner, even though he came with no money of his own. Dasen arranged a loan for Tonjum at a bank, and the two cultivated the City Service business, along with other enterprises.

After Dasen's arrest in February 2004, Tonjum and others sat down with Dasen to discuss the business.

"He said he had taken some money from the company, not that he had stolen it," Tonjum said.

Dasen infused the business with

money and withdrew it at will. That was the standing arrangement for the company, in which the partners took draws when the business was profitable.

Dasen is accused of spending millions of dollars on sex.

On the day of the meeting, Dasen told his associates he had taken about $200,000.

"It was higher than that," Tonjum said. The company hired an accountant to find a figure, but Tonjum said Monday he doesn't know what that figure is.

"Was it more than a million dollars?" asked prosecuting Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski.

"I think you'd have to talk to the accountant," Tonjum said.

"We settled up with Dick" to everyone's satisfaction, Tonjum said.

"Dick tried documenting everything, I believe," during the course of his work, Tonjum said.

Dasen's spending may have affected the business, although no one knew it at the time, Tonjum said, adding that, in retrospect, the expenditures "probably prevented us from doing some things."

Still, he believes Dasen "wasn't a dishonest person," even if he led two lives. "He was like a brother to me."

Likewise, a former secretary of Dasen's, a former partner, and a former employee said he came to their rescue when they needed financial help.

Diane Woosley, Dasen's secretary at Christian Financial Service, said Dasen set up budgets for people in financial turmoil, and often paid their bills himself, with no expectation it would ever be repaid.

"I don't remember a time when Dick refused to help anybody," she said. "It was a benevolent thing to do."

He also helped her and her husband, Woosley said. Dasen and his wife, Susan, bought a house and allowed the couple to live there for "very reasonable" rent. Later, he sold the house, worth $115,000 to $125,000, to Woosley and her husband for less than $50,000.

Woosley said she was unaware that Dasen met with some of the women he helped in motels or that he gave $10,000 to one woman and $7,000 to another in a week.

Thor Jackola, a former partner of Dasen's, said when Jackola's business suffered a large loss, Dasen stepped in to stop a foreclosure on Jackola's home. He bought the house and "allowed us to live there," Jackola said.

Leslie Lewellen, widowed with five children, was a waitress at the Outlaw Inn when Dasen was an owner. He gave her money for car repairs and when her furnace went out. He didn't expect repayment, but she made it anyway, she said.

"He was the kindest man I know," she said.

Another woman testified that Dasen paid her bills during her divorce and later paid her about $1,000 per week when she opened a hair salon. She said there was no personal or sexual relationship based on that generosity. Another woman said he gave her $7,000 to $8,000 to pay bills, with no strings attached.

Ray Thompson, founder and CEO of Semitool, was often involved with Dasen in philanthropic efforts in the community. The men gave quietly to projects, such as a school that helped teenagers earn diploma equivalencies, the expansion of Trinity Lutheran School and Stillwater Christian School.

They didn't grandstand about their generosity, Thompson said.

Dasen sat on Thompson's board of directors and resigned after his arrest.

"He did not want to be a problem for Semitool, for me personally," Thompson said.

One witness Monday was arrested on a warrant for bad checks immediately after testifying.

Kurt Adkins said he is a recovering drug addict. His testimony contradicted that of two women who earlier testified that they had sex for money with Dasen. They said they are no longer drug users, but Adkins said he had smoked methamphetamine with one as recently as December and saw her buying drugs at a pool hall recently.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com