Staff writer
After hearing an emotional statement from a mother whose 14-year-old daughter was the victim of aggravated indecent liberties, District Judge Michael Powers sentenced Daniel Scott Huls II, 33, Burns, to two concurrent sentences of 4 years, 11 months in prison.
The mother said she’d tried to put the things she wanted to say on paper, but realized some things she wanted to say were vindictive. The investigation into the incidents, which occurred between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2015, uncovered an additional incident that had not been reported, she said.
“We trusted him,” the mother said. “He told us he felt a lot closer to us than he did to his own parents.”
Huls looked back and forth between the mother’s face and the courtroom table as he listened to her statement.
She said the most important thing to her is that Huls would get treatment so he does not get out of prison and do the same thing again.
“I’ve been a judge 35 years and heard a lot of people,” Powers said, calling her words “a very kind statement.”
However, Powers ordered prison.
“It’s an opportunity for you to do some serious thinking,” Powers said to Huls.
Huls signed an agreement in October to plead no contest to two charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child in return for dismissal of two additional counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and two counts of criminal sodomy, all with the same victim.