Depositions presented in defense of Dick Dasen Sr. portray two women impressed by Dasen's philanthropy.

And although the women say Dasen never asked them for sex in exchange for money, they tell sordid tales of involvement with sexual activity.

The depositions were filed Friday in District Court by George Best, Dasen's defense attorney.

Dasen, 62, a Kalispell businessman, was accused in February of paying millions of dollars for sex with women over the past 20 years. Some of the women have said they became reliant on the money and that he used their financial needs to coerce them into a sexual relationship.

One has testified that Dasen dropped ominous hints after a woman was found murdered - hints about what happens to people who go to the police about him.

Sworn statements of Cari Halama and Valerie Hondius, however, describe Dasen as a man who gave them thousands of dollars to keep them off the streets with no expectation that he would ever be repaid.

Best interviewed Hondius on Sept. 8 at his office.

Hondius said in her deposition that Dasen never discussed sex with her and that she never had sex with him.

She said she was charged with prostitution and was fined $100 for her involvement with Dasen, but Kalispell Municipal Court has no record of such a charge.

Hondius met Dasen in September 2003 through a friend, Leah Marshall, who contacted Dasen on Hondius' behalf because she needed money. She and her boyfriend were "kind of homeless," Hondius said.

Hondius went to Dasen's office, where he gave her $1,000 that she and her boyfriend used to buy food, some clothes and a hotel room. Her understanding was that she would repay the money "as much as I could whenever I could."

A few weeks later, she asked for more and Dasen gave her $1,500, she said.

It was then that Marshall "made me understand the whole circumstance of supposedly what was going on," she said. Marshall "said that she has sex with Mr. Dasen and then goes and gets money from him later," according to the deposition.

Hondius said she called Dasen from a motel room, where she had an 18-year-old friend. Dasen went to the room and, after minimal introductions, engaged in sex with Hondius' friend.

Later, the three met at Dasen's house, where he took pornographic pictures of the teenagers and performed a sex act on the other woman. After both occasions when all three met, Dasen wrote Hondius a check for $2,000, she said.

"At any time, did Mr. Dasen say that he wanted to pay you for this or that you were - did you ever say that we'll do this if you give us money?" Best asked Hondius.

"It was expected," she said.

However, she told Best that Dasen never tried to touch her or made her feel intimidated or threatened.

"What was your impression of him?" Best asked.

"That he was a really nice guy," Hondius said.

Halama is charged in Kalispell Municipal Court with prostitution. Her case is still unresolved.

Best interviewed Halama on July 20 when she was in the county jail on a felony charge of possessing drugs. She had previously pleaded guilty to writing bad checks.

Halama said she met Dasen in October 2002 through a friend when she was living in her sister's garage.

She went to Dasen to ask for a loan to get into a house with her three children. The friend had told her that Dasen "was known to help people" and had bailed him out of jail once without ever asking for repayment.

Dasen referred Halama to his business, Budget Finance, where she was turned down for a $1,900 loan. She returned to Dasen that day and he wrote her a check for $1,900.

She told him she would pay it back and he said, "Don't worry about it."

Two months later, she went to him again and came away with $2,400 for rent, bills, furniture and Christmas money. Afterwards, she went to him frequently.

According to her deposition, it was about three or four months after she met Dasen when she had sex with him at his home.

"When he asked me if I wanted to go in the bedroom with him, I don't know if I looked startled or what, but he told me that I didn't have to… He says, 'Don't think that I won't help you, because I will,'" Halama said in her deposition.

"Did you ever feel that if you didn't have sex with him or go to bed with him, you wouldn't be helped?" Best asked Halama.

"No," she said.

She lost the home she rented in Columbia Heights about a year later, when Dasen stopped supporting her. She was gambling and spending the money he gave her on methamphetamine, she said, and was lying to him about it.

Dasen asked how she was spending the money after she gambled away thousands in a single day and she became angry, she said.

"I basically told him it was none of his business."

Dasen cut her off.

"Then I lost my house and I lost my kids," and she ended up living in her car, she said.

"I spent the whole summer in my car. And then at the end of the summer, I went back to Mr. Dasen and asked him for help."

He wrote her a check for $300, told her to get a hotel room and something to eat.

He rented a house for her in Kalispell, and Halama still concealed her drug use, saying that he would have stopped supporting her if he knew she was using.

"He told me that I could learn to depend on him instead of drugs." He wanted her to avoid gambling, stay home and take care of her children.

Halama's world was populated by women that Dasen helped, including her best friend Marshall and women who had breast enlargements courtesy of Dasen.

Eventually, Halama slashed a woman's tires because she owed Halama money for drugs. Dasen paid to replace the tires, but ended his relationship with Halama. He stopped taking her calls and they haven't spoken since, she said.

"What are your feelings as we speak today about him?" Best asked Halama.

"I care about him a lot," she said.

Dasen has pleaded innocent to promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, sexual intercourse without consent and sexual abuse of children.

His trial is scheduled for Jan. 25.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com