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.