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	Witnesses Give Conflicting Stories in Passmore Trial By Scott McMillion Bozeman Daily Chronicle November 30, 2007 http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2007/11/29/news/30trial.txt LIVINGSTON - The defense opened Thursday afternoon in the trial of former minister Terry Passmore, who is accused of sexual assault and rape for allegedly fondling three young girls who belonged to his church here nine years ago. Darrel Harper, a fellow Church of God minister from Kalispell, said he recalled investigating the charges in December 1998. He described them very differently from the way the way two of the girls described them in court this week. "There wasn't any skin-to-skin contact at all" with the younger of two sisters Passmore allegedly molested, Harper said. The girl was 12 years old at the time, and Harper said that at that time she accused Passmore, now 49, of putting his hand under her clothes, including once reaching inside the top of her pants. There also was "touching outside the shirt on the breast. That's all I recall." The girl testified earlier this week that Passmore had put his hands inside the top of her bathing suit at a water park and had penetrated her vagina with his finger in the church sanctuary. Such contact with a minor can constitute rape under Montana law. After the alleged abuse came to light, the parents of the two girls approached church officials. "As far as I know there was an investigation by our denomination," Harper said. Reporting the allegations to police "was not my call." Both parents testified earlier this week that, after talking to church leaders, they "were told not to" report the incidents to police. The family belonged to the Church of God at that time. Passmore faces six sexual assault charges and two counts of rape for allegedly fondling the sisters and one other girl. He was not charged with any crimes until 2006, more than a year after the three girls had sued Passmore and the church in civil court. Defense attorneys Chuck Watson and Gary Balaz maintain the girls and their attorney, Mark Hartwig, pushed Park County Attorney Brett Linneweber to file the criminal charges as a way to bolster their civil case, which was settled in December 2006 on undisclosed terms. Levi Haefs, who was in the pool at Chico Hot Springs with Passmore and the girls when some of the alleged crimes occurred, said he didn't see or hear anything unusual that night, although there was some horseplay in the water. Passmore was "splashing, playing around, just like a kid," Haefs said. Passmore also was throwing children out of the water "but it was all in fun." He said Passmore was within his sight "85 percent" of the time he was in the pool. Two of the alleged victims testified that Passmore molested them in the pool that night Livingston Police Department Detective Michelle Morris testified that the father of two of the alleged victims came to her office in 2002 and said a preacher had molested some girls at a church outing. Since there was no physical evidence, she said, she told him she needed victim statements from the girls and "they were not cooperative at that time." The father had testified he brought one daughter with him to that interview, but Morris said she remembered only the father being there. "I did not pursue the daughters," she said, and never filed charges. The Park County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation after Hartwig approached Linneweber late in 2005, after the civil suit had been filed. Carlo Canty, the assistant attorney general prosecuting the case, disputed that the civil case had any influence on the criminal charges. "It has not been proven that Mark Hartwig assisted Bret Linneweber in any way" in the preparation of the charges, Canty said. Sheriff's detective Tony Steffins said he and Linneweber handled all the details of the case. Steffins also said he made "a mistake in judgment" by telling defense witnesses about pedophilia issues and information sources, but insisted he had no intention to influence their testimony. The trial is scheduled to continue into next week. Scott McMillion is at scottm@dailychronicle.com
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