Serial rapist gets sentenced to 50 years in prison

A Kalispell man was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Thursday, leaving behind him a dozen adult and child victims of grisly sexual assaults.

Justin George Jones, 40, was on probation for a previous sexual assault conviction when he molested a 5-year-old in 2014.

Jones was sentenced for felony sexual assault in the 2014 case as well as for violating his probation for the previous crime. He will not be eligible for parole for 25 years.

“I believe that he is not able to be rehabilitated,” the mother of the victim said at the sentencing hearing.

Prosecuting attorney Travis Ahner pushed for a long sentence, saying that Jones first committed sexual crimes at a young age. Since then, as many as 12 victims were sexually assaulted by Jones, Ahner said. Some were as young as 4 years old.

Ahner said Jones likely would still be a threat well into old age.

There was jarring testimony in Flathead County District Court. Two women said it would be a grave mistake to give Jones a short sentence.

One was the mother. The other was Jones’ sister.

“This community, or any community, is not safe with him in it,” Laurie Stephens, Jones’ sister, said in an emotional statement.

The first of the latest two offenses took place in 2004 when Jones forced himself on a woman, his landlord, in February that year.

Jones was convicted of felony sexual assault in 2005 and given a 10-year suspended sentence.

A decade later, another sexual assault report was made to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. This time it involved a 5-year-old child.

According to court documents, Jones told a detective that he was “fighting a deviant cycle” for weeks prior to the assault and “should have reached out for help or left the house.”

Jones ultimately pleaded guilty to felony sexual assault through a January plea agreement.

Sean Hinchey, Jones’ attorney, requested that the court drop the parole restrictions. He argued that the guilty plea could be a mitigating factor that saved the people involved from an emotionally taxing trial.

Jones did not give a statement Thursday.

District Judge Robert B. Allison handed down the full sentence recommended by the prosecutor — 50 years in prison with no parole eligibility for half that time.

Allison added a stringent condition to any potential prison release for Jones.

He ordered that one week prior to release, Jones would have to undergo drug treatment “that reduces sexual fantasies or sex drive.”

Jones also will be labeled a Level 2 sex offender.

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.