Man can't remember sex assault from 2007

A tearful 27-year-old Whitefish man pleaded no contest Thursday in Flathead District Court to raping a 17-year-old girl five years ago.

Timothy House claimed no memory of the Feb. 25, 2007, incident in which he started kissing the girl, who resisted his advances, before he pinned her to the ground and raped her.

House was not charged with the crime until March this year because, although there was DNA evidence of the crime, there was no match in the state DNA index.

That changed in 2011 when House became a suspect in a Conrad sexual assault case and a DNA sample was collected.

When his DNA was entered into the index, it generated a hit on the 2007 DNA profile. That was reported to Whitefish police, who secured another sample and confirmed the match.

Prior to his arrest, House was returned to Flathead County from Pondera County, where he had been arrested in another sexual assault case. He was released by that court with a condition that he submit to alcohol breath tests twice a day.

When he reported for his breath test, he was arrested on the felony charge of sexual intercourse without consent.

During his testimony in which he agreed that the facts of the case were accurate despite his lack of any memory of the incident, House answered questions revealing a part of his own story that brought him to tears.

House said he was molested as a child from age 5 to age 12, but had never told anyone before. His family now is trying to have charges filed against that assailant.

House continued to cry after he left the stand, laying his head on the table and covering his eyes. He was crying as he got up from the table and left the courtroom to be taken back into the jail.

In exchange for House’s no contest plea, the Flathead County Attorney’s Office has agreed to recommend a sentence of seven years in prison with no eligibility for parole, followed by 13 years of probation. The office will also recommend that he be required to undergo both phases of the sexual offender program.

His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20.