Man sentenced for home invasion

The Daily Inter Lake

A Kalispell man suspected of holding up an east Kalispell couple at gunpoint and then failing to show up for his June 2008 trial has been sentenced to five years in Montana Department of Corrections custody, followed by five years on probation.

Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart E. Stadler also recommended that 35-year-old Rodney Allen Silsbee attend a drug treatment program and be placed in a pre-release center.

Stadler imposed a stiffer penalty than that recommended in a plea bargain between Silsbee and the Flathead County Attorney's Office, which called for a three-year probationary sentence.

Prosecutors offered Silsbee that deal because the victim of the robbery was unable to be reached and had credibility issues, according to Deputy Flathead County Attorney Lori A. Adams.

In exchange for Silsbee's guilty pleas to felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor bail jumping, prosecutors dropped robbery and assault-with-a-weapon charges.

According to court records, Silsbee broke into a house on the 2000 block of Third Avenue East in June 2007, sheriff's detectives said.

He then flashed a revolver and demanded money from the couple living there.

A scuffle between Silsbee and the husband broke out, and Silsbee fired the revolver into the floor - accidentally hitting himself in the foot.

During that scuffle, Silsbee allegedly hit the man over the head with the gun and then fled. He left without taking anything from the house.

The man received a superficial head wound and was not taken to the hospital.

Several hours later, Silsbee was seen leaving the parking lot of a bar on U.S. 2 in Kalispell. He was pulled over and arrested at gunpoint.