Sex offender gets 99 years in prison

Convicted sexual offender Robert Fishbaugh, 54, of Thompson

Falls was sentenced on Tuesday in Sanders County court to 99 years

in the Montana State Prison, with no chance of parole for the first

45 years of imprisonment and until phases one and two of the sexual

offender treatment program are completed.

Convicted sexual offender Robert Fishbaugh, 54, of Thompson Falls was sentenced on Tuesday in Sanders County court to 99 years in the Montana State Prison, with no chance of parole for the first 45 years of imprisonment and until phases one and two of the sexual offender treatment program are completed.

"The court has huge concerns about the defendant's lack of remorse and acceptance of responsibility of his role in this crime," said Judge Deborah Christopher during the sentencing.

State prosecutor Amy Kenison brought five witnesses to the stand during the sentencing trial including an additional alleged victim, who chose to come forward with allegations that she was sexually molested by Fishbaugh 30 years prior to his arrest.

Dr. James Myers, who conducted the mandatory psychosexual evaluation on Fishbaugh, was the first to take the stand explaining the degree to which Fishbaugh not only lacks remorse and takes no responsibility for his crime, but blames the victim for the sexual abuse.

"When they (sex offenders) face sentencing, most defenders come clean with what they've done once they've already admitted to have having sex and this to me is an unusual case because he puts 99 percent of the blame on the child," said Myers.

Myers said throughout the course of the evaluation, Fishbaugh admitted to the offense, but continuously said he was not to blame.

Myers also went into the defendant's personal history, revealing that Fishbaugh was himself sexually abused by his foster brother from ages 8 to 17 years old.

Judge Christopher took Fishbaugh's victimization into account when deciding on a sentencing, suspending 54 of the 99 years Fishbaugh was sentenced to prison.

Fishbaugh was arrested in Oregon for having repeated sexual intercourse without consent with the victim, who was a young girl at the age of 11 when the abuse first began.

The violations continued for two years before Fishbaugh was finally arrested in Roseberg, OR. after attempting to flee the state of Montana with the victim in order to avoid arrest.

Chad Cantrell, detective for the Sanders County sheriff's office and investigator on this case gave an account of the events that led to the arrest of Fishbaugh.

According to the victim, Fishbaugh impregnated her and drove her to Billings against her will in order to abort the unborn twins.

Cantrell said following the abortion, Fishbaugh voluntarily came to the sheriff's office to give them a sample of his DNA.

The next morning Fishbaugh fled with the victim to Oregon where he was ultimately arrested.

According to the victim's statement when she took to the witness stand during the sentencing trial on Tuesday, Fishbaugh wanted the abortion to avoid matching DNA from the babies to himself.

"The reasons for the sentencing are the seriousness of the crime, the extreme conduct within the scale of the seriousness of this crime, the attempt to conceal that conduct, the lack of remorse and the lack of acceptance and responsibility for that crime," said Christopher.

Questions or comments on this story can be directed to Reporter Danielle Switalski by e-mail at reporter@vp-mi.com.