Farr found not guilty on one count

By RICHARD HANNERS

Whitefish Pilot

After six hours of deliberation, the jury in the trial of David Farr found the Whitefish man not guilty on one of five counts of sexual assault.

The jury of nine men and four women said it was unable to reach a verdict on the other four counts. The Flathead County Attorney’s Office could try Farr again on those four counts.

In the meantime, Farr, 38, remains out on the same bond with the same conditions.

Farr was arrested March 1, 2006, and charged with five counts of sexual assault. The charges involve five boys who were 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 years old in 2005 when they attended Montessori Children’s House, in Whitefish.

The Whitefish Police Department spent 18 months investigating the charges, the largest case in its history, with a report topping 180 pages.

But with no physical evidence to prove the charges of sexual assault, and with the five boys “legally unavailable” for questioning on the stand, the jurors heard evidence from forensic experts and the five mothers, as allowed under the state’s hearsay exception rule.

With a situation of “she said, he said, she said,” both sides tried to discredit the other’s witnesses. Statements by the five boys could have been tainted by suggestive questioning, the defense argued, while Farr’s credibility rested on his performance as a school administrator and how five boys could all make similar claims, the state argued.

Farr took the stand in his own defense June 14, where he answered questions in a strong, firm voice that declared his innocence.

When asked about the sexual assault charges by his attorney, Phyllis Quatman, Farr turned to the jury and denied the allegations one-by-one. He denied being a pedophile but agreed he had become an outcast in Whitefish.

When it was the state’s turn, Flathead County deputy attorney Dan Guzynski questioned Farr about his educational background. Guzynski wanted to know why someone would pursue an educational background but never teach in a formal setting.

Farr graduated with degrees in psychology and elementary education from Hobart College, in New York, in 1991. He said he moved to Whitefish that year but he was “not quite sure” why.

His first experiences supervising children took place while in high school working as a lifeguard and counselor at summer camps.

In 1992, Farr was hired at Montessori Children’s House to run the Beargrass after-school program, a job he held off and on through 2002.

He said there were no complaints about his work during that time, but the year he was hired, he was arrested and charged with possession of a marijuana pipe. He said he offered to resign, but the Montessori board did not fire him.

In fall 1993, Farr opened a second-hand outdoor-equipment store on Central Avenue. As the business grew, he eventually resigned from the Beargrass program. He said he sold the business in 2004 because he “wasn’t having fun.”

The Montessori board hired Farr in May 2004 to fill the newly created administrator position. He said he enjoyed working with children because he “liked being a part of the future” and “spending time with the children in their play, their innocence.”

It was through his store downtown and skiing at Big Mountain that Farr said he got to know the parents of two of the boys he was charged with sexually assaulting. Two of the five mothers were on the board at Montessori while he worked as administrator.

Guzynski also questioned Farr about his performance as an administrator, a job Farr admitted he had no previous experience in. There were a few complaints from the Montessori board about how money was spent, but the school was “in the red and always had been” when he was hired and had a $57,000 surplus when he left, Farr said.

Other complaints suggested Farr spent too much time with the children, but Phyllis and Jack Quatman built a case that it was unlikely Farr could have been alone with the boys long enough in the crowded facility to sexually assault them. Jurors toured the school, a remodeled house, on June 12.

Farr said as many as 36 children were present at a time at the school, and parents were “coming and going all day.” He also noted that the administrator’s office was “not Dave’s office” — he shared it with his assistant, a copy machine used by staff and a library used by parents.

Farr said he sometimes left the office to help out when children were having “melt-downs.” It was during one of these “melt-downs” in mid-October 2005, the state claims, that Farr allegedly sexually assaulted one of the boys in the nap room.

Farr denied the allegation, saying he read a book to the boy and maybe touched his head and shoulder while laying next to him to help calm him down.

Four days later, Farr said, the Montessori board told him he was suspended, citing “inappropriate contact” with a child at the school. Farr claimed he didn’t know anymore about the reason for his suspension until the day he was arrested — about 4 1/2 months later.

Farr also said he didn’t learn about death threats made against him by a grandfather of one of the boys until after he was arrested. Whitefish Police Officer George Kimerly testified that he didn’t pass the information on to Farr because he was convinced by a mother that she had talked the grandfather down.

Farr said he awoke one night after he heard a large truck in his driveway. A man in the truck gave a “Rebel yell” before it sped away. Farr said he found a hole in the windshield of his vehicle. A mother later confessed to throwing rocks at Farr’s vehicle.

As for the five boys making similar statements about being sexually assaulted by him, Farr said it was a case of one boy’s confusion contaminating stories by the other four. He also noted that children at that age can say “bizarre things.”