Missoula Woman Sentenced for Abusing Her Young Children

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 22 new felony complaints this week, which is 10 more than last week and higher than the weekly average. According to County Attorney Matt Jennings, nine of those were violent crimes, five were endangerment crimes, three were property crimes, three were drug crimes, and two were administrative crimes. 

“We had five instances of domestic violence this week, and some of these were really terrifying,” Jennings said. “We had an intimidation case where a man was essentially holding his partner at gunpoint and not letting her leave. This was nearly a kidnapping situation, but it was charged with unlawful restraint, which is kind of one step down. Then there were some scary partner or family member assaults.” 

Jennings said there was a horrifying sexual assault case this week. 

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“A person who was temporarily in Missoula from out of state was walking along the trails on Broadway Island by Broadway and Scott, and she was thrown to the ground by a man who was trying to sexually assault her,” Jennings said. “This is every woman's worst nightmare. We, as a community, were absolutely horrified. We are pouring our resources into making sure that this person is brought to justice and that she feels that she has a voice in this system.” 

Jennings said they don’t often see stranger attacks like that, but when they do, they prioritize those cases. He added that this was an awful situation, but said there were also some positives. 

“So many people stepped in to try and help this woman,” Jennings said. “Law enforcement showed up within minutes. Medical staff was doing everything they could. We captured surveillance video from cooperating businesses nearby. When we see our community tested like this with pure evil amongst us, we also see everybody else react to that in a manner that I actually find a lot of hope and positivity in.” 

READ MORE: Missoula News - Crime Reports

A child sex predator was sentenced this week as well. 

“Katelyn Ingraham abused her young children basically from the time they were infants until the age of 4,” Jennings said. “She filmed them in extremely disgusting, exploitative, violent acts and then sold them online. We had a very long and serious sentencing hearing this week where Katelyn Ingraham got 40 years in the Montana women's prison. We're happy with the outcome that she is going to be away for quite a while. But those wounds that she caused her children, unfortunately, may never heal.” 

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office provides a weekly crime report every Friday morning at 9:00 on Talk Back.