Sex sting suspect to challenge statute

Attorneys for a Evergreen man last week challenged the constitutionality of a state statute as one part of a defense that claims their client was a victim of entrapment when he allegedly responded in 2014 to an undercover officer’s online solicitation for sex with a fictitious underage girl.

Brett Anthony Cislo, 49, has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of sexual abuse of a child. Prosecutors say Cislo responded to two online advertisements posted by the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

In the first instance in August 2014, Cislo allegedly drove to the Red Lion Hotel to have sex with an underage 15-year-old girl. Agents claimed that he texted the fictitious girl that he was at the hotel, but got nervous and abandoned the encounter.

A day later Cislo responded by email to another ad also posted by agents. Court documents say Cislo said that he would “love to help” educate a young girl in various lewd acts. He was seen driving by the trailer where we was supposed to meet the girl, but did not go in.

He was interviewed by agents one day later.

Cislo’s attorney Lane Bennett claims that the government has not been entirely forthcoming in its portrayal of the case and that Cislo is a victim of a bait-and-switch maneuver.

“A big part of our argument is that the ads posted in this case were for sex with adult women,” Bennett said during a hearing before District Judge David Ortley. “The search warrants do not mention the bait ads, they only mention the switch ads.”

Bennett has questioned whether or not the posting of the ads followed protocol set forth by the U.S. Department of Justice and has asked for officers’ training manuals and notes in the case. The officers have told prosecutor Travis Ahner that the files either do not exist or that the officers were told to not share them with the general public.

“We want to know why the officer structured the advertisements in the Kalispell sweeps in a way that was not mentioned in the search warrant,” Bennett said.

Ahner said he did not believe producing the training manuals would make a difference in this case.

“Regardless of what the United States Department of Justice teaches is entrapment, this court is not bound by that,” he said.

In addition to the entrapment defense, Bennett and his co-counsel David Stufft are claiming some of the state law pertaining to sexual abuse of children is unconstitutional.

Part of the law makes it a crime to travel to meet with underage individuals with the intention of having sex. Bennett said Cislo never put his vehicle in park at either location and never actually acted on his impulses.

He asked Judge Ortley if under the statue Cislo would have met the requirement for travel if he had gone to the store to buy milk but had moved in the direction of the meeting place arranged with the girl.

“Our belief is that this statute is over-broad or vague,” Bennett said. “The definition of travel is so overly broad that it encompasses far more than the state legislature meant for it to encompass.”

Bennett pointed out testimony of Gov. Steve Bullock when he was Montana attorney general. Bullock voiced concerns about the broad language at a legislative hearing about including the travel aspect of the law.

Ahner disagreed.

“The attorney general’s comments are certainly not the end-all to the discussion,” Ahner said.

He also took issue with the defense’s constitutional argument, pointing out that Cislo had not hypothetically traveled to the store to buy milk as Bennett claimed, but that Cislo had traveled to the two pre-arranged meeting places.

“If I take Mr. Cislo’s logic, he is not responsible until he is in the bedroom of the underage female,” Ahner said.

Ortley did not rule on the constitutionality of the case. He said that there is a good chance the case might be appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com