Suspended sentence for sexual assault

A Whitefish man recently received a

10-year suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to a charge

of sexual assault.

Flathead County District Court Judge

David Ortley also designated Derek Workman, 25, as a Tier 1 sexual

offender during a March 17 sentencing hearing.

According to court records, Workman was

watching TV at a friend’s home in November 2009 with two women and

a 13-year-old girl. Workman was drinking whisky, and the two women

were drinking beer.

At one point, the woman who was

baby-sitting the girl was awakened by the other woman after falling

asleep and told that Workman had put his hand down the girl’s

pants.

Workman, who pleaded guilty to the

sexual assault charge on Jan. 13, also faced one count of felony

DUI and one count of misdemeanor habitual offender.

The DUI charge originated in September

2010 after Montana Highway Patrol trooper Jason Fetterhoff

responded to a report of a one-vehicle accident and complaint of an

intoxicated man on Smith Lake Road, near Kila. A young man had

reportedly fled after someone confiscated the keys to the

vehicle.

Further investigation after Workman was

arrested revealed that Workman had DUI convictions in April 2004,

October 2009 and November 2009, his driver’s license was suspended,

and he was classified as a habitual offender.

For the felony DUI charge, Ortley

sentenced Workman to 13 months with the Montana Department of

Corrections followed by a four-year suspended and concurrent

sentence.

Workman was recommended for placement

with the WATCH program and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine with $1,000

suspended. The habitual offender charge was dismissed per a plea

agreement with the prosecution.