Suspect facing new rape charges
Jason Dean Franks, 41
A convicted sex offender arrested late last year for allegedly molesting a 5-year-old Kalispell boy now will face additional charges accusing him of raping an 11-year-old girl.
The Flathead County Attorney’s Office filed initial paperwork Monday alleging that Jason Dean Franks, 41, sexually assaulted the girl while he was living with her father in 2006.
Franks already is in the Flathead County Detention Center on $200,000 bail after pleading innocent to sexual assault and sexual intercourse without consent last December.
Prosecutors filed those charges Nov. 30 after a Kalispell Police Department investigation determined Franks sexually abused the 5-year-old boy when he lived with the boy’s mother from 2009 to 2010.
About a month after his arrest, Kalispell Police took a report from a 15-year-old girl who claimed that she had been raped by Franks at her father’s home in 2006 when she was 11, according to court documents.
She was interviewed by a detective on Jan. 24 and said the assault occurred after her father went to work and she was left alone with Franks, according to court documents that do not detail when exactly the alleged attack occurred.
The girl said that she observed Franks drinking beer and watching pornography when she woke up the morning of the alleged rape, according to court documents.
She went back to her room but said Franks later beckoned her to come to his room. Once inside, he allegedly locked the door and got on top of her, according to court documents, which further state that he held her arms down and raped her.
The Flathead County Attorney’s Office is requesting that a judge approve felony charges of sexual assault and sexual intercourse without consent. Both charges carry a maximum penalty of 100 years or life in Montana State Prison.
Franks was convicted of sexual assault in August 1993 in Missoula, where he is currently charged with failing to register as a sex offender.
Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.