Day-care assaults worry parents
By CHERY SABOL
The Daily Inter Lake
News that a Kalispell day-care operator admitted molesting children has unsettled some parents.
"I've been fielding calls from parents all day," Flathead County Sheriff's detective Jeanne Landis said on Monday. She investigated the case against James Thorne, 41.
Thorne pleaded guilty Friday to four counts of sexual intercourse without consent involving young boys. A fifth charge is unresolved, as are four more counts of soliciting children to perform sex acts upon other children.
Detectives believe they have identified all of Thorne's victims. There are seven, Landis said, and some were children at the Paint and Place day care north of Kalispell.
"A lot of children attended that day care" that Thorne and his wife operated for seven or eight years, Landis said.
The facility was licensed by Montana and the state placed foster children there, she said. A criminal background check on Thorne probably wouldn't have turned up anything because he has no prior convictions.
"It is my understanding they gave up their license in June" before charges were filed against Thorne, Landis said.
The parent of a child at the day-care center first contacted authorities with suspicions about Thorne.
Landis said that while members of Thorne's family were in the home when some assaults occurred, she doesn't believe family members were aware that Thorne was molesting children.
Family members cooperated with the investigation and said they would have reported Thorne if they knew about the crimes.
Thorne's wife, Terry, is quite ill, Landis said. "I don't think she knew."
According to prosecuting Deputy County Attorney Dan Guzynski: "He used the sickness of his wife as an opportunity to offend those kids." Guzynski will present that as an aggravating factor against Thorne at sentencing.
He plans to recommend that Thorne receive four consecutive life sentences for the charges to which he pleaded guilty. There is no plea agreement in the case.
"Family members who may have been in the home during the assaults are shocked and outraged by his conduct … They've really gone the extra mile" in cooperating with authorities, Guzynski said.
Landis has called what Thorne did "horrific."
She said she hopes the story will remind parents to talk to their children about the differences between good touches and bad touches, and the importance of telling an adult if someone wants to touch them in secret.
Children should know "that is not OK," Landis said.
Thorne was arrested because a child told a parent, who listened and reported the allegation to officers.
Besides the local charges, Thorne might face federal charges, according to his public defender, Thane Johnson. Child pornography - including pictures and videos he took of local children - reportedly was found on Thorne's computer.
Thorne will be sentenced on the first charges on March 1. He still may face trial on the five remaining felony charges.
Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com