Wheelis rejects sex offense plea deal

District Judge James Wheelis rejected a plea agreement Monday which would have allowed a man accused of multiple counts of sexual assault to avoid prison.

The agreement, reached between the Lincoln County Attorney’s Office and Jerome Arthur Willett, 49, would have dismissed three charges of sexual assault in exchange for a guilty plea on a charge of sexual abuse of a child. The deal included a sentencing recommendation of five years and eight months in prison, with credit for eight months served prior to the agreement and the remaining five years suspended.

Deputy Lincoln County Joseph Cik moved to close the sentencing hearing due to the sensitive nature of the case and the victim’s status as a juvenile. Wheelis granted the motion and cleared the courtroom of all non-essential personnel, including media.

Court records, obtained after the closed hearing, show that Wheelis rejected the plea agreement and indicated a tougher sentence would be required.  

“(The) court rejects the plea agreement and will follow the recommendations of the presentence report,” according to the court records. “Court would impose a 10-year commitment to the Montana State Prison, with phases I and II of Sex Offender Treatment to be completed before being considered for parole. The defendant would be assigned a Tier Level II and required to register as a sex offender.”

The case dates back to the summer of 2013, when the victim, then 14 years of age, was in Libby staying with her father. Charging documents state that Willett, a neighbor of the victim’s father, befriended and then engaged in inappropriate physical contact with the juvenile victim.

The abuse was discovered after the victim returned to her mother’s home in California. The mother discovered an electronic message sent from Willett to the child’s iPod. The message, according to the detective’s narrative attached to the complaint, “stated something to the effect of, ‘Good Morning Beautiful, I Love You. Think of me today, I’ll be thinking of you.’”

The victim’s mother then checked the child’s device for other messages from Willett, which she provided to the Lincoln County sheriff’s investigator on the case. The complaint quotes three messages sent Aug. 13, 2013, from Willett to the victim.

The first, at 3:36 a.m., stated, “[victim’s name redacted], I need you to get up. I’m cold. Come make me a fire. I’m cold, Hurry up. I need you NOW!”

The second, an hour later, stated “Hey baby…get up and come warm me up. I’m so cold, Hurry up. I need you to come cuddle with me. Cold, oh so cold.”

The third message of that morning was sent at 6:16 a.m., in all-capitalized letters, “Get up sweetie pie. If you would have got up when I texted the first time we could have spent 3-4 hours together and you could have snuck back home and no one would have known, to bad, so sad. Your a good looking girl. Pretty sexy and sweet as hell.”

Another message, dated Aug. 12, 2013, read, “Didn’t get any picture with that Txt. Try again. I’ll get you one more can of that but first you’ll have to promise on MY life that you won’t ever ask again. That’s the only way I’ll do it. Have a good night, good looking…Dream Sweet. Hottie.”

Following receipt of these messages, Lincoln County investigators contacted the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department and requested one of their detectives interview the victim. The interview was conducted, and recorded, Oct. 7, 2013.

During the interview, the victim told investigators that Willett started out just holding her hand while walking to his trailer and while watching a movie in his trailer. She told the detective the contact escalated in the coming weeks when Willett kissed her more than 100 times and touched her intimate areas.   

The original complaint alleged three counts of sexual assault between July 1, 2013 and Aug. 18, 2013. It was filed in Lincoln County Justice Court March 24, 2014. Willett was arrested April 2, 2014.

Under the plea agreement, signed Nov. 17, 2014, Willett agreed to an amended charge of sexual abuse of a child, with the remaining counts of sexual assault in the original complaint to be dismissed. Willett was released from the Lincoln County jail on the same day because the plea included no additional time behind bars. There was no mention of any requirement to register as a sexual offender in the plea agreement.

The victim’s mother, whose name is being withheld to protect the victim’s identity, told The Western News that she was upset with the plea agreement. She said she agreed to the suspended prison time but wanted the sentence to require Willet to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life.

She said Cik, who represented the County Attorney’s Office during the proceedings, had told her that Willett would be required to register as a sex offender “until the last nail was nailed in his coffin.” Instead, the plea deal required Willett to plead guilty to the charge stemming from the text messages, rather than the original charges that related to physical contact and would have required registration as a sex offender.

“Why was I lied to? I feel like I was misled,” she said. “I don’t want to speak poorly of him (Cik), but I feel like the prosecution skipped over a lot. They ignored crucial information in order to reach an easy plea agreement and avoid trial. It’s like a slap in the face to let him off on an admission of basically nothing.”

Officer Darrell Vanderhoef of Montana Adult Probation and Parole, who prepared the presentence investigation report, also disagreed with the plea agreement. He recommended a 10-year prison term, the maximum sentence for the one remaining charge in the plea, along with a requirement for Willett to complete phases one and two of sex offender treatment before being considered for parole.

“I didn’t believe he was being honest,” Vanderhoef said regarding his interviews with Willett. “In the interest of public safety, I recommended 10 years.”

Vanderhoef said Myers’ report could be interpreted as Cik claims, in that Myers said Willett would be an appropriate candidate for outpatient treatment. Myers’ evaluation, Vanderhoef said, comes from the perspective of treatment, however, not from punishment and public safety. The report is a sealed court document and not available for public review.

Vanderhoef supports Judge Wheelis’ decision to reject the plea agreement in support of his recommendation.

“I’m pleased the judge went along with it. When you look at all the statements it supports that he was really inappropriate with that kid. The bottom line is he was 47 and she was 14. When you’re 14 you can’t give consent,” Vanderhoef said.

Cik said, “Ultimately, it’s up to the judge’s discretion, and he’s exercising that discretion.”

Willett was given one week to decide if he is going to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial or accept Wheelis’ sentence. A hearing was scheduled for March 9.

The victim’s mother said both she and her daughter are ready to come to Lincoln County and go through a trial. “Do we want to? No. But we are prepared to,” she said.