Libby man accused of child sex assault pleads not guilty

A Libby man charged with child sex assault pleaded not guilty on Aug. 7 in Lincoln County District Court.

Laurence Alton Haflich, 69, is charged with two felonies in relation to an alleged incident at his RV while it was parked between Libby and Troy on June 17.

The charges are incest, victim under 12 years of age and offender is 18 years or older, and sexual assault, victim less than 16 and the offender is three years older.

Haflich is being held in the Lincoln County Detention Center on $250,000 bail. His next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30.

Haflich faces a minimum 25-year sentence and a maximum of 100 years on the incest charge. A conviction on the sexual assault charge could result in a 100-year sentence or life in the Montana State Prison.

The case began on June 27 when Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Detective Duane Rhodes was contacted by a woman who wanted to report her daughter had been touched inappropriately by her grandfather, Haflich. Rhodes interviewed the girl and she said she had spent the night at his house on June 22. Rhodes wrote in his report that Haflich lived in a RV between Libby and Troy and it was the first time the girl had stayed with him.

According to the court document, she told Rhodes she shared a bed with the accused, but they had separate blankets. She said she went to sleep before waking up to Haflich “playing with himself.” She said at one point he placed his penis on her leg. She said she got out of bed to get away from him, but when she got back into bed, he began touching her vagina over her clothes. She didn’t like it, got up and left the room. When she looked back, the alleged victim said Haflich was using his hand to “play with” his penis.

The next morning, the girl said Haflich allegedly talked to her about touching herself and told her that if she wanted to “learn anything” to go to him. He also allegedly asked her if she had ever seen a hard penis. She said she hadn’t and didn’t want to. Later, Haflich drove her home and told her not to tell anyone because she “wouldn’t want her Papa to get in trouble,” the court document said.

When Det. Rhodes spoke to the family member who the girl reported the incident to, the person clarified the day the girl spent with the defendant was actually June 17. The family member knew this because it was the day before Father’s Day and Haflich called the family member to borrow money for gas. The family member reported taking money to Haflich on June 18 and the girl had spent the previous night there and Haflich needed the money for gas to take her home.

The alleged victim later spent the night with the family member and they noticed she was not “her bubbly self.” According to the court document, during that time, Haflich came to the house and the girl hid behind the family member until he left.

The next morning the family member talked with the girl who reported what allegedly happened when she spent the night at Haflich’s residence. The family member then told the mother what had happened.

This is not Haflich’s first time in the county justice system.

According to court documents, he was charged in 2013 with felony DUI and criminal endangerment. He was pulled over by a law officer who found a young girl in the truck along with another man. The girl was not wearing a seat belt. He pleaded guilty to DUI and received a 13-month sentence to a Department of Corrections facility for treatment.

In 2020, Haflich was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated burglary and assault with a weapon for allegedly beating up his ex-daughter-in-law. Before his jury trial, his release was revoked because he allegedly used methamphetamine. He was later found not guilty of those charges in a jury trial.