C-Falls man sentenced for assaulting infant

A 20-year-old Columbia Falls man was sentenced March 7 to five years with the Montana Department of Corrections, all suspended, for felony assault on a minor.

Nikolas Fox pleaded guilty in a Dec. 7 plea agreement with the county attorney’s office. He had faced up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted. Flathead County District Court Judge David Ortley also ordered Fox to pay a $1,000 fine and $800 in public defender fees.

Samantha French, the mother of the victim, was sentenced Oct. 25 to five years with DOC with no time suspended and ordered to pay a $500 fine and a $400 public defender fee. She could be evaluated for placement back in the community after serving six months with DOC. She gave up parental rights to her daughter, who has been adopted.

According to court documents, the infant’s biological father, not Fox, picked up the one-year-old infant at French’s home on Dec. 17, 2011, and noticed bruising on the child’s face. French said the bruising was caused by a dog’s wagging tail, but the child began vomiting after the father left with her.

The biological father took the infant to the hospital, where she was admitted to intensive care. Hospital personnel discovered the child had bruises on her face and hand, retinal hemorrhaging in both eyes and a subdurnal hematoma — bleeding in the brain caused by a traumatic brain injury.

When later asked about the bruises, French told detectives the same story about the dog. She then began crying and admitted she caused the bruises after the infant refused to take a bottle.

Detectives also obtained an e-mail exchange between French and Fox in which Fox allegedly wrote that he had seen French slap the child in the mouth and “slam her into the crib.” In another e-mail, Fox allegedly said he smacked the child and cried afterward because he “felt terrible.” French allegedly told detectives that Fox has anger problems and had punched holes in the walls of their home.