Former county resident gets prison time for sex offense

A former Eureka resident accused of indecent exposure to a minor is headed to prison.

Cody Hosko, 60, of Victor, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years, with four suspended, Monday, Aug. 5, by judge Matt Cuffe in Lincoln County District Court.

Hosko was first sentenced July 29 for the offense. He was set to go to a state Department of Corrections facility, but Cuffe realized the sentence was too long and that the defendant had to be held at the Montana State Prison.

Hosko received credit for serving 193 days in the county jail. He was ordered to complete two phases of sex offender treatment before becoming eligible for parole. He is classified as a Tier 1 sex offender.

The sentence was part of a joint plea deal between public defender Ben Kolter and county attorney Marcia Boris.

Hosko told the victim he was sorry while he and others in the gallery sobbed.

Hosko first pleaded not guilty to the felony offense on Jan. 29. The case began after an investigation by law enforcement in Lincoln County.

According to a probable cause affidavit, county Detective Duane Rhodes reported he received a report from the state Department of Health and Human Services on Oct. 18, 2023, that indicated Hosko exposed himself and masturbated in front of a young girl more than five times in the summer of 2023.

The girl said Hosko was her grandmother’s boyfriend. When the girl told the grandmother, the woman told her not to tell anyone or she and Cody would go to jail. The woman also said she would take care of it and it never happened again, according to the court document. The alleged victim told her therapist and said Hosko never touched her or asked her to touch him.

Rhodes also reported he received a call from a Child Protective Services case worker who said the girl lives with a foster family and that she had stopped the visits to the grandmother’s residence. The girl’s foster mother said the child’s life had not been easy, but she was a good kid.

Rhodes interviewed the alleged victim on Dec. 1, 2023, at the school. She told him she has lived with her foster parents for seven years. Before she disclosed the alleged incidents, she said she would visit her grandmother. She also said she called Hosko, “Grandpa.” When she stayed at the grandmother’s home, she slept in a bedroom without a door. Hosko allegedly came into the room to talk to her, then pull his penis out and rub it while her grandmother was at work. She said she would look away.

The girl told Det. Rhodes she finally decided to disclose the incidents to her grandmother after Hosko came into her room at night and looked down at her. She said she’d wake up and he’d be standing over her. There were times when he had pulled her blanket down before she pulled it back over herself.

According to the girl, she finally got “sick and tired” of it and told her grandmother. The girl said Hosko was present and said he was sorry. The grandmother asked the girl to not tell anyone. She then told her therapist. She also said Hosko never exposed himself to her following her disclosure and that the grandmother had kicked Hosko out of her home.

Rhodes then spoke to the grandmother who said she had lived with Hosko for more than 20 years, but they never married. She said her granddaughter came to live with her because the child’s mother was a meth addict. She said she was the child’s guardian, but Hosko didn’t want to live them and due to him being “abusive” the girl has lived with a foster family.

After her granddaughter told her about the alleged incidents, she said she would take care of it and told the girl to not talk about it. She said it was a mistake and blamed it on being raised in a home where family secrets were kept. She told her granddaughter not to tell her foster mother because she would, “freak.”

She also said she told her granddaughter to tell her therapist and that she had never witnessed anything between the girl and Hosko.

Rhodes then spoke with Hosko, who said he was in the bathroom masturbating when the alleged victim walked in on him.