Child molester gets extra prison time for bad checks

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/Daily Inter Lake

A former Flathead County resident already sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing a young girl throughout most of her teenage years will serve an additional five years for writing bad checks.

Lawrence John Sheehan, 62, also was ordered to pay more than $2,000 in restitution during a hearing Thursday in Flathead County District Court.

Prior to sentencing, Sheehan pleaded guilty to writing bad checks totaling more than $4,600 over a three-day period in July 2005.

The checks were written to businesses across the Flathead Valley, including grocery stores, sporting goods stores, and an auto parts store.

Defense attorney Glen M. Neier, who said Sheehan suffers mental and emotional problems, told District Court Judge Stewart E. Stadler his client wrote the checks because he thought the world was going to end.

Sheehan already has paid back some of the money, Neier said.

Neier asked Stadler to impose any prison time on the bad checks conviction concurrent with prison time Sheehan will serve on the conviction for sex abuse.

But - citing an extensive criminal record that begins in 1964 and includes assault, burglary, and DUI - Stadler imposed the sentences consecutively.

"Mr. Sheehan, your criminal history is outrageous," Stadler said.

Sheehan was sentenced last month in Lincoln County District Court to 25 years in Montana State Prison with 10 years suspended. He must complete a sex offender treatment program at the prison before becoming eligible for parole.

Sexual abuse charges filed in Flathead County, which name the same victim as the case prosecuted by the Lincoln County Attorney's Office, were dismissed following Sheehan's sentencing.

Flathead County prosecutors said Thursday the charges were dropped as part of the three-way plea deal involving Lincoln County and Sheehan, and that the victim's family approved of the decision.

The abuse, which occurred in Lincoln County, Flathead County, Idaho, and Arizona, was ongoing and continuous, according to court documents.

Prosecutors alleged the abuse began in 2000, when the girl was just 13, and continued for seven years. In 2003, the girl gave birth to Sheehan's child, according to court documents.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com