Bigfork man sent to prison for stalking

Flathead District Judge David Ortley sentenced a 21-year-old Bigfork man to the Montana State Prison on Tuesday, saying that he hoped time and extensive treatment would help the stalker and burglar grow up and make better choices.

Severin Gislason, 21, was sentenced to 15 years in Montana State Prison, with 11 years suspended, after pleading guilty to felony stalking. Ortley also imposed a 10-year consecutive suspended sentence for felony convictions of burglary and deceptive practices that resulted after Gislason went on a felony burglary spree of Bigfork businesses in February 2014. During his time in prison, Gislason will have to complete programs to treat substance abuse issues and cognitive thinking principles before he is eligible for parole. He will have to pay restitution for his stalking victim’s therapy and for the burglaries.

Ortley said that at the time of the original burglary sentencing in 2015 that Gislason was given a deferred sentence because his actions were viewed as young drunken foolishness, but that as things unwound in the subsequent stalking case it became apparent that Gislason had much deeper problems. Ortley said that while youthful indiscretion and other issues might have played a part in the crimes, it nonetheless did not excuse the behavior.

“There are thousands of 21-year-old men running around Montana who haven’t done what you’ve done,” Ortley said.

Despite being on felony probation and having a court order to not contact his victim issued in September 2014, he continued to send her text messages over the course of the next year. In June 2015, when an officer advised Gislason again to stop contacting the woman, he allegedly said he wanted to get arrested so he could see his victim again. Gislason used an app to disguise his number and repeatedly tried to contact the woman, even after he was repeatedly advised by officers to follow the court order and leave the woman alone.

AFTER HE was charged with felony stalking in 2015, Gislason was released from jail to be monitored by a GPS monitoring bracelet. He cut the bracelet off and dumped it in the toilet at Glacier Park International Airport, prosecutor Alison Howard said. He then boarded a bus to Breckenridge, Colorado, and was found by police within a mile of his victim’s home. Once in jail in Colorado, Gislason cajoled jailers into letting him call his father, but then used the phone to call and harass his victim, Howard said. After that, Gislason staged a fake suicide in an effort to leave the jail.

“I’ve been doing this job for about a decade,” Howard said. “Severin Gislason is hands down the most manipulative defendant I’ve ever prosecuted.”

Among his many manipulations, Gislason was found to be living in Missoula without permission of his probation officer as the cases progressed, Howard said. He managed to mislead his probation officer to thinking he had not moved.

Gislason’s calculated maneuvers continued as the stalking case went to trial. A jury was convened and Gislason decided to represent himself. Howard said she now realizes that the decision to self-represent was likely because Gislason wanted to confront his victim in such a way that his public defender Jessica Polan never would have allowed. During the trial Gislason had a loud outburst toward the victim and had to be physically removed from the courtroom by police officers. Gislason then decided to stop the trial and pleaded guilty to felony stalking.

The ordeal has had a lasting impact on the victim, who moved 1,200 miles away and now has to undergo therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The woman said she was terrified when Gislason cut his GPS bracelet off and his whereabouts were unknown.

“To this day I fear what would have happened if he found me before the police in Breckenridge found him a few miles from my home,” the victim testified.

She and her boyfriend had gone over plans about how she could leave clues if Gislason kidnapped her, the woman testified. She’s taken self-defense classes and plans to get a concealed carry license, but she still knows that there is a day coming when Gislason won’t be locked away.

“My trauma doesn’t end when my case does,” she said.

Gislason’s actions have had a great impact on his victim’s ability to socialize with others.

“I am afraid if I smile at the wrong person they will stretch my kindness just as he did,” she said.

The victim asked for the maximum allowable 35-year prison sentence allowable for all three of his felony charges. Her parents also urged the judge to impose a sentence with some teeth.

“He’s rarely paid a price for anything he has done,” the victim’s mother testified.

Her father agreed.

“You have been given your second chance many times ... at some point there needs to be a consequence for what has gone on,” the father testified.

PROSECUTOR HOWARD asked at sentencing that Gislason be sentenced to 35 years in prison. She noted that had he been older than 21 at the time of his first felony, he would have been eligible for a persistent felony offender sentencing enhancement of up to 100 years.

Defense attorney Polan noted that Gislason’s actions have been inexcusable, but also asked Ortley to take into consideration the prognosis of mental health professionals who think that Gislason is treatable.

Mental health evaluator Paul Sells told Ortley in court that he evaluated Gislason and found that his extensive abuse of illegal substances had likely exacerbated narcissistic personality disorder and a sense of entitlement that Gislason struggles with.

Sells said that Gislason is not likely a danger to the community, but it is concerning that he did not internalize the fact that his victim was terrified and threatened.

“That made it dangerous,” Sells said.

Sells said that prison might make Gislason’s problems worse, and that with proper treatment he believes Gislason “is capable of turning things around and becoming a safe member of the community.”

Family members also testified in Gislason’s defense, saying that they did not think he was dangerous, but did think that he needed some treatment.

Gislason did not speak in his own defense at the sentencing hearing. With good behavior he could be parole eligible once he completes one-quarter of his sentence. Ortley stressed to the victim that a permanent court order is in place for her protection against Gislason if his antics continue after he leaves prison.

Flathead District Court records show that Gislason is set to have a hearing to legally change his name on Dec. 13.

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