Man sentenced for child abuse

A 20-year-old Columbia Falls man who injured a 14-month-old girl was given a five-year suspended sentence March 7 after pleading guilty to felony assault on a minor.

Nickolas Fox also was ordered by District Judge David Ortley to pay a $1,000 fine, an $800 public defender fee and a $50 pre-sentence investigation report preparation fee. He was barred from living with anyone under age 18.

Fox’s girlfriend, Samantha French, previously was sentenced to five years in prison by District Judge Ted Lympus on the same charge.

The charges stemmed from a Dec. 17, 2011, report from Kalispell Regional Medical Center that French’s then-14-month-old daughter had suffered serious injuries.

The child’s father picked her up that day from French and initially noticed some bruising on her face. French told him the bruising had been caused by a dog. The child began vomiting after the father left with her and he took her to the hospital, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit.

Hospital records showed that the child had sustained bruising on her face and hand, retinal hemorrhaging in both eyes and bleeding in the brain caused by traumatic brain injury.

When detectives spoke with French about the child’s bruises, she shared the same story about the dog before becoming silent. She then began crying and said she caused the bruises on the child’s face when she “grabbed her face really hard” after she refused to take a bottle.

Detectives obtained an email exchange between French and Fox in which Fox wrote that he had seen her slap the child in the mouth and “slam her into the crib.” Also discovered was an email in which Fox stated he smacked the child and cried afterward because he “felt terrible.”

French gave up her parental rights to the child.