Homeowner charged in toddler's death

Tommie Cates scheduled to appear Feb. 21 in Justice Court

The Daily Inter Lake

Tommie Cates, owner of the home where 3-year-old Loic Rogers drowned in a septic tank after he went missing Jan. 24, has been charged with negligent endangerment.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan made the decision Thursday to issue the misdemeanor offense citation after he reviewed details of the Flathead County sheriff's investigation.

It means that Cates allowed or was aware of the hazardous situation caused by the broken riser on her septic tank, Corrigan said.

The riser is within about 10 feet of where Mark Rogers, Loic's father, had parked his van that evening while he and his children visited in Cates' home.

Sheriff Mike Meehan said somebody had backed into the riser during the last week of December, damaging the plastic riser so its plastic lid no longer could be bolted in place.

"To her credit, she made an attempt to fix it," Corrigan said. He declined to comment on exactly what fix was attempted.

Even so, he said, Cates knew it was broken and needed to be fixed, but failed to successfully fix it or notify someone who could make the repair.

"It was her responsibility to make sure that the broken riser was properly fixed or replaced," Corrigan said.

The Evergreen sewer district will make such repairs when they are notified, general manager Roberta Struck had said shortly after the tragedy.

"It is important for the public to understand that this was not a homicide," Corrigan said. "It was an accident. But some negligence was involved, so some response from this office is required."

The county attorney added that Cates has been extremely cooperative throughout the sheriff's investigation and the review done by his own office.

"She feels just terrible about this whole thing," Corrigan said.

A massive search ensued after Loic's disappearance that Wednesday night, involving as many as 200 volunteers and professionals that night and the next two days.

The septic tank had been checked during the first night of searching, but searchers did not see anything. The boy's body wasn't discovered until Jan. 26, when the tank was drained.

Rogers reported the lid was in place when he first went looking for his son.

According to The Associated Press, investigators are "absolutely convinced that his story is accurate," Meehan said.

Investigators initially thought it was unlikely that the tank's lid could have closed on its own.

But Meehan said Tuesday that his office had conducted several "experiments" and concluded it was possible that the lid had dropped back into place by itself.

The tank's above-ground access was broken, and the lightweight lid no longer was bolted securely in place. It's possible, for instance, that the lid was off-center and gave way like a trap door under the boy's weight, Meehan said.

In the end, "we can't positively say exactly how the lid got back on there," Meehan said. "But our experiments and scenarios showed it would have been possible for the lid to just come back down."

If convicted on the endangerment charge, Cates could face as long as a year in jail and-or a $1,000 fine.

She is scheduled to appear Feb. 21 in Justice Court, and is expected to enter a plea.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com