The Daily Inter Lake

Second teen pleads not guilty in assault case

The second Columbia Falls man charged in an alleged assault Dec. 29 on a 14-year-old girl has pleaded innocent to a felony charge of criminal endangerment.

Logan Jon Sandman, 18, remains free on a $50,000 property bond he posted after his arrest in connection with the incident at the Super 8 Motel in Whitefish.

Max Gregory Goe, also 18, was arraigned Jan. 11. He was placed on formal house arrest after pleading not guilty to two felony charges - criminal endangerment and sexual intercourse without consent.

Both are seniors at Columbia Falls High School.

According to court documents filed by Flathead Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski, Whitefish police said they were called to the Super 8 on a report of a missing 14-year-old girl. Hotel staff directed officer Rob Veneman to a guest room, where he reportedly heard voices and noises in the room.

Veneman knocked on the door, and Goe eventually answered. When asked, Goe said nobody else was in the room and allowed the officer to go inside to check.

Veneman looked out an open window and saw the girl lying face down in the snow three stories below, seriously injured. Officers later found Sandman near a vehicle in the vicinity of the motel.

The girl told police that a friend had driven her to the Columbia Falls Town Pump, where Goe and Sandman then picked her up and drove her to the Whitefish Super 8. There, she said, after all three of them drank beer, she had sex with Goe.

She said when Veneman knocked on the door, Goe told her and Sandman to leave. Sandman reportedly told her to jump out the window. She did, injuring herself, and Sandman reportedly fled without offering help.

In Montana, anyone younger than 16 is considered incapable of consenting to sex.

If convicted, Sandman could be sentenced to as long as 10 years in prison and fined as much as $50,000.

Goe faces similar penalties for his endangerment charge, plus anywhere from four to 100 years in prison and a $50,000 fine for the sexual intercourse charge.

Both men's trials are scheduled for the jury term beginning July 2. Sandman is scheduled to appear in District Judge Kitty Curtis' courtroom.