Judge upholds police search in rape case

A district court judge last week upheld the police search of a Columbia Falls man’s home who has been charged with sexually abusing children in the community.

Court documents filed Dec. 29, 2021 allege that David Elven Kellogg’s sexual abuse of children dates back four or five years. The rapes would take place at his home and he would often record the sexual assaults on video.

According to the documents, one victim alleged Kellogg had sexually abused her since the age of 11. She said they met over social media, and that Kellogg, 54, would provide money, drugs and other gifts in exchange for sex.

Documents state that the victim showed investigating officers sexually explicit messages and photos on her cellphone allegedly sent by Kellogg. She detailed one alleged incident in September 2021 where she was brutally raped at Kellogg’s home, at which time she decided to call law enforcement.

The victim also told officers that Kellogg would record the assaults on video.

According to documents, a search of Kellogg’s home allegedly led to the discovery of numerous videos of Kellogg sexually assaulting the victim and other young children at what appeared to be his home.

Officers seized 14 cellphones, three computers, one tablet, nine storage cards, a digital camera and a video recorder from Kellogg’s home.

Kellogg’s defense had questioned the validity of the police’s search of Kellogg’s home, which they claim came unlawfully.

The defense claimed that since police went through an unlocked garage door, when they searched Kellogg’s home on Dec. 13, 2021, rather than the front gate, which police said was impeded by snow and ice, that it amounted to an illegal search.

But police had a valid search warrant and when they went into the garage, they knocked several times on the house interior door. It took Kellogg about a minute to answer.

Last week Flathead County District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht found the warrant, even through the garage, was legal.

“The evidence is that law enforcement knocked and announced at the entrance to the dwelling, as well as that the Defendant opened the door pursuant to those efforts. The execution of the warrant was reasonable under the totality of the circumstances,” Ulbricht ruled on Sept.13. 2023.

“Given the circumstances, law enforcement’s knocking and announcements on the door of Defendant’s dwelling is significantly distinguishable from the unannounced entry into the garage to purge any taint that their entering into the garage may have had,” Ulbricht added.

Kellogg is currently released on bail and has been ordered to not have contact with anyone under 18, according to court records.

The trial in the case has been delayed several times over the years. It is now scheduled Jan. 29, 2024.