Man charged with rape of child

A former Columbus man has denied raping a 6-year-old girl over a 2-year period.
Joel Dana Ferguson, 58, appeared handcuffed and in jail clothing Tuesday morning in district court and pleaded not guilty to one felony count of sexual intercourse without consent.
Bail is set at $250,000.
Stillwater County Attorney Nancy Rohde told 22nd Judicial District Judge Blair Jones that Ferguson is a “multi-state offender” with drug and resisting arrest convictions. Rohde also said Ferguson is a flight risk and that prosecutors believe he fled the state when he became aware that he was under investigation in 2014. Ferguson was arrested on Aug. 26 in Flathead County.
Defense attorney Clark Mathews said that Ferguson was unaware of the warrant, had moved out-of-state to care for a family member and had been back living outside the Kalispell area.

THE CASE
According to court documents, Ferguson allegedly sexually assaulted the child from May 2012 until August 2013. The assaults occurred nearly every day for a year and the child had told her mother, who did not directly intervene, according to court documents.
The charge was filed in December 2014.

ONE VICTIM, TWO PERPETRATORS
Another man – Adam Ferguson – has been convicted of sexually assaulting the same child and is currently serving a minimum 15-year prison sentence. His total sentence was 100 years with 75 years suspended.
Adam Ferguson, 28, is the adult son of Joel Ferguson. At Adam Ferguson’s sentencing in March 2015, Jones called the crimes “abhorrent.”
The Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office and the Columbus Police Department conducted a joint investigation of both men when a former co-worker of Adam Ferguson was jailed on unrelated theft charges and on a recorded phone line from the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, made a reference to “taking down two child molesters,” according to court documents.
The child’s mother told investigators that Adam Ferguson told her he had sexually assaulted her daughter on two occasions and that she had learned of it when he told her, according to court documents. The child told investigators she had told her mother about both men assaulting her. The mother did not report the assaults to law enforcement because of financial reasons, according to court documents.
Adam Ferguson eventually told investigators that his father had told him he had assaulted the child as well, according to court documents.