Dasen to be sentenced on Monday
Since May 20, Dick Dasen Sr. has been in the Flathead County jail, awaiting Monday's sentencing.
Convicted by a jury of sex crimes, Dasen faces up to 126 years in prison.
Before he imposes the sentence, District Judge Stewart Stadler will listen to witnesses and review a presentence investigation and a sex-offender evaluation.
Dasen, 63, an accomplished Kalispell businessman and benefactor to groups and individuals, had asked to be released from jail before sentencing. But Stadler found him to be a risk to the community he helped anchor for decades.
Dasen admitted having countless extramarital affairs. But Kalispell police launched an intense investigation that convinced a jury that Dasen's activities were criminal acts, not moral lapses.
He was convicted of sexual abuse of children (for photographing underage girls engaged in sex), promotion of prostitution, and four counts of prostitution.
Prosecutors said he spent about $3 million on sex in five years.
The prostitution investigation against Dasen became the epicenter of an earthquake of criminal and legal allegations:
-A score of women and girls was charged with prostitution. All but two pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor crimes. One pleaded guilty to a felony charge of promotion of prostitution for recruiting
-Dasen was charged with rape for alleged sexual activity with a girl below the age of consent; he was acquitted on that charge.
-That girl and another sued Dasen for damages. Their cases are unresolved.
-Dasen's insurance company filed a court request to be absolved of covering Dasen in the lawsuits, alleging that his homeowner policies don't cover criminal acts.
-Two court actions were filed, requesting an accounting from Dasen of financial assets he managed for two disabled people. One is a teenager who was severely brain-damaged after choking on a marshmallow. The boy's family received more than $1 million from the marshmallow manufacturer and others. There is no record of where his money went, only a statement filed by Dasen that it is all gone.
-A $1 million fraud suit was filed against Dasen by Southgate Mall Associates of Missoula related to Dasen's sale of the Outlaw Inn to the company.
-Dasen was identified as a "person of interest" by police in the strangulation murder of a young woman in a motel room, where his DNA was found. One woman testified that Dasen used the murder as leverage with the women with whom he exchanged sex for money, saying that's what happened to people who went to the police.
-There were allegations of financial impropriety by Dasen to shield his assets in light of the lawsuits. At a bond hearing, prosecutor Lori Adams said Dasen shuffled nearly $7 million in assets, including selling his home in Arizona to his wife, Susan, for $10.
"Divesting himself of all of his assets so as not to be liable civilly … is an avoidance of responsibility," Stadler said at Dasen's bond hearing in June. Stadler denied Dasen's motion to be released from jail on his own recognizance.
Dasen went through a monthlong sexual disorder treatment program after he was arrested. He received a "guarded" prognosis, and that is cause for concern, Stadler said at the bond hearing.
Flathead Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski said a report from the treatment program says that Dasen has a "fairly severe sex addiction" with very little victim empathy.
"It's more of a co-dependency love addiction, not so much sex addiction, although the sex addiction is what got me out of control," Dasen said at the hearing.
A new, comprehensive evaluation has been conducted and Stadler will consider that on Monday.
Dasen was prosecuted by Guzynski and Deputy County Attorney Lori Adams. His attorney is George Best of Kalispell.
Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com