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Businessman Spent $5 Million on Prostitutes - Montana man shocks community - BLAINE HARDEN, The Washington Post
KALISPELL, Mont. - Until he was arrested this year in his underwear in a motel room with a nearly naked young woman who was behind in her payments to his finance company, there was not a businessman in this town more respected than Richard A. Dasen Sr. He had won the "Great Chief" award, the highest honor a local business leader can receive from the chamber of commerce. A nominating letter for the award described him as "the epitome of the reason we all want to live in the Kalispell area."
Dasen was an energetic force in the construction of a new hospital, a ski resort and a large hotel that established this northwest Montana town of 15,000 as a player in the convention business of the Rocky Mountain West. He was impressively energetic, too, in charitable and social causes, serving as a church elder, helping teenagers finish high school and volunteering his time to Christian Financial Counseling, which helped people manage debts.
Leading a double life
Since his arrest in February in a sting operation at a cut-rate local motel, police have unearthed a side of Dasen's life that, while impressively energetic, is decidedly less civic-minded. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women, many of whom were in legal trouble, addicted to drugs and in debt to him, according to court documents.
When police asked Dasen how many of these women there had been, he said there had been too many to count. Dasen apparently lost count, too, police say, of how much money he paid all these women. Investigators counting his checks - he paid by check, in amounts between $1,000 and $6,000 per encounter, sometimes as much as $130,000 a month - now estimate that Dasen spent at least $5 million, said Charles Harball, the city attorney.
The state Department of Public Health and Human Services is also trying to find out what Dasen, as a court-appointed conservator, did with $500,000 that had been awarded in a product-liability settlement for the long-term care of a severely brain-damaged child. In an affidavit filed last month in the county court overseeing the conservatorship, a state social worker said the money under Dasen's control disappeared with "no formal accounting" between 1995 and 2000. Since then, the child, having turned up in the local hospital with severe malnutrition and infected ulcers on his backside, has become a ward of the state.
Facing charges
So far, Dasen has been charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year-old girl for sex. The age of consent in Montana is 16. He has also been charged with two felony counts of promoting prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and his attorney, George Best, declined to comment on any aspect of the case. A trial on the rape and prostitution charges is scheduled for early next year, and law enforcement officials say that they are continuing an investigation into any accounting and tax irregularities concerning Dasen.
Many of the women Dasen allegedly paid for sex met him for the first time when they came to Christian Financial Counseling for help in consolidating and managing their debts. Dasen ran the nonprofit organization and also owns a private finance firm, Budget Finance.
Back in February, news of Dasen's arrest astonished many of his longtime business associates, political acquaintances and fellow church members. "Dick's dark side was done with extreme discretion," said Dean Jellison, a retired lawyer who has known Dasen for nearly 35 years. "The news was a complete and utter shock to the community."
Awaiting trial, Dasen is free on $50,000 bail and staying with his wife at their vacation home in Arizona.
KALISPELL, Mont. - Until he was arrested this year in his underwear in a motel room with a nearly naked young woman who was behind in her payments to his finance company, there was not a businessman in this town more respected than Richard A. Dasen Sr. He had won the "Great Chief" award, the highest honor a local business leader can receive from the chamber of commerce. A nominating letter for the award described him as "the epitome of the reason we all want to live in the Kalispell area."
Dasen was an energetic force in the construction of a new hospital, a ski resort and a large hotel that established this northwest Montana town of 15,000 as a player in the convention business of the Rocky Mountain West. He was impressively energetic, too, in charitable and social causes, serving as a church elder, helping teenagers finish high school and volunteering his time to Christian Financial Counseling, which helped people manage debts.
Leading a double life
Since his arrest in February in a sting operation at a cut-rate local motel, police have unearthed a side of Dasen's life that, while impressively energetic, is decidedly less civic-minded. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women, many of whom were in legal trouble, addicted to drugs and in debt to him, according to court documents.
When police asked Dasen how many of these women there had been, he said there had been too many to count. Dasen apparently lost count, too, police say, of how much money he paid all these women. Investigators counting his checks - he paid by check, in amounts between $1,000 and $6,000 per encounter, sometimes as much as $130,000 a month - now estimate that Dasen spent at least $5 million, said Charles Harball, the city attorney.
The state Department of Public Health and Human Services is also trying to find out what Dasen, as a court-appointed conservator, did with $500,000 that had been awarded in a product-liability settlement for the long-term care of a severely brain-damaged child. In an affidavit filed last month in the county court overseeing the conservatorship, a state social worker said the money under Dasen's control disappeared with "no formal accounting" between 1995 and 2000. Since then, the child, having turned up in the local hospital with severe malnutrition and infected ulcers on his backside, has become a ward of the state.
Facing charges
So far, Dasen has been charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year-old girl for sex. The age of consent in Montana is 16. He has also been charged with two felony counts of promoting prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and his attorney, George Best, declined to comment on any aspect of the case. A trial on the rape and prostitution charges is scheduled for early next year, and law enforcement officials say that they are continuing an investigation into any accounting and tax irregularities concerning Dasen.
Many of the women Dasen allegedly paid for sex met him for the first time when they came to Christian Financial Counseling for help in consolidating and managing their debts. Dasen ran the nonprofit organization and also owns a private finance firm, Budget Finance.
Back in February, news of Dasen's arrest astonished many of his longtime business associates, political acquaintances and fellow church members. "Dick's dark side was done with extreme discretion," said Dean Jellison, a retired lawyer who has known Dasen for nearly 35 years. "The news was a complete and utter shock to the community."
Awaiting trial, Dasen is free on $50,000 bail and staying with his wife at their vacation home in Arizona.
(I'm from ND, I have to throw a MT joke around.) 
