GREAT FALLS — A former eastern Montana undersheriff has pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of children for soliciting sexually explicit images from a 17-year-old girl.
The Great Falls Tribune reports Luke Strommen entered his plea Tuesday in District Court in Great Falls. Prosecutors are recommending a 10-year suspended prison sentence when he is sentenced in January.
Strommen was placed on administrative leave from the Valley County sheriff’s office in June 2018 while officials investigated a report he’d had a yearlong relationship with a 17-year-old girl. She was old enough to consent to sex but it is illegal to receive sexually explicit images of anyone under 18. He resigned in November 2018.
He faces trial next March for sexual intercourse without consent after a girl reported he raped her about 50 times from 2009 to 2011, starting when she was 14. He has pleaded not guilty.