Two men face rape charges
The court documents that tell of the alleged crimes read like a parent?s worst nightmare:
A 14-year-old girl and her 15-year-old friend supposedly sneak out of the house to meet a pair of older men ? Joshua Conrad Buck, 21, and Stephen Paul Haines, 18.
Buck and Haines then reportedly drive the girls to a south Kalispell convenience store where Buck buys cigarettes and beer. From there, they go to a bar on U.S. 93 South to purchase hard liquor.
According to authorities, the next stop was a house near Foy?s Lake, where Buck picked up some marijuana. They rented a room at a motel on East Idaho Street in Kalispell, where a game of strip poker reportedly ensued.
After the game, they paired off and had sex. Haines already knew the 14-year-old, but Buck and the 15-year-old appear never to have met before that day.
But as far as the law is concerned, it didn?t matter whether they knew the girls or not.
Anyone under age 16 in Montana is considered incapable of consenting to sex, and now Buck and Haines face rape charges in Flathead District Court for the Oct. 8 incident.
Each could be jailed for 100 years or more if convicted.
Buck also faces an additional count of sexual intercourse without consent, sexual assault charges, and a charge of unlawful transaction with a minor for a relationship he pursued with a different 15-year-old girl throughout 2006.
In that case, Kalispell police had found Buck, then 20, living at an Appleway Drive apartment with his alleged victim, according to court documents. The relationship came to light as the result of a welfare check police did at the apartment on Dec. 31, 2006.
The girl, who had been reported by her father as a runaway, had reportedly moved with Buck from Helena to Kalispell. She was eight months pregnant with Beck?s child when police found them.
Buck was charged with sexual intercourse without consent and sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in February 2007.
Buck was released from jail on informal house arrest in March and ordered only to have supervised contact with the alleged victim.
The girl was put in foster care.
While he was out on house arrest, Buck, now 21, allegedly had sex with the second 15-year-old.
In interviews with police, the second girl said she told Buck her age several times. The first time she told him, Buck allegedly replied, ?You?re trouble.?
Buck and Haines were arrested last week.
In interviews with police, Haines admitted to having sex with the 14-year-old girl.
If convicted of all charges, Buck faces up to 300 years in prison and $150,500 in fines. He is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center on $95,000 bail.
Haines faces up to 100 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. He is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com