Inside a Billings courtroom last week, Russell Dwyer’s defense attorneys and retained experts attempted to explain what the Cody man did two summers ago.

Dwyer, who’s now 57 years old, engaged in a series of explicit online conversations with a person that he believed to be a 14-year-old girl. He offered the teen $150 for an hour’s worth of sex and then drove from his South Fork home to Laurel, Montana, to meet up with her in July 2023.

Dwyer stopped short of the camper where the teen was reportedly waiting, but law enforcement officers — who had staged the entire thing — swooped in and arrested him as he returned to his vehicle. 

Last fall, Dwyer pleaded guilty to a felony count of sexual abuse of children, and he appeared in Yellowstone County District Court for sentencing last week.

Over a protracted, three-day hearing, Dwyer’s defense team made the case that the crime was the result of his decorated service in the U.S. Army.

Dwyer came away from his 24 years of service and six combat deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A defense expert said the 2023 crime stemmed not from sexual desire, but a desperate attempt to recreate the rushes of adrenaline he’d experienced in the military; that contention was disputed by the prosecution and another expert.

As the proceeding came to a close on Friday, Dwyer said he is ashamed and “horribly sorry” for what he did.

“... I did not appreciate how PTSD and three TBIs put me in a place mentally to do things contrary to my being,” he said , adding that since his arrest, “I’ve been trying to do everything I possibly can to make myself better.”

District Judge Ashley Harada said she believed him and noted the progress he’d made with his mental health.

“But pretending that you don’t have a sexual deviance or problem is not helping you,” she said.

She imposed 10 years of prison time with another 10 years suspended, landing halfway between the 20 years sought by the Yellowstone County Attorney’s Office and the probation sought by the defense.

Graphic discussions

Dwyer responded to an online ad on MegaPersonals that law enforcement officers covertly placed in July 2023. The ad was for a 19-year-old woman, but the chatter, an undercover officer, quickly told Dwyer that “she” was not actually 18.

Dwyer said he was “cool” with the girl being underage. After the chatter clarified she was 14, he asked for pictures — “just to see what your body looks like” and “so I know you’re not a cop impersonating a girl.”

The chatter later insisted she was not a cop, adding, “I don’t need problems, so don’t be lame, k? You can cop out, lol, if you want …”

“I am not lame,” Dwyer responded, “but had an 18-year-old I was supposed to hook up with that turned out to be an old cop, and I almost got busted.”

Around that same time, Dwyer also conversed with a second law enforcement chatter who’d held themselves out as the mother of a 9-year-old, nonverbal child.

“The nature of the chats were such that the child and the mother would be willing to meet for sexual contact,” now-retired Montana Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Toman “Toby” Baukema testified, “and there was some graphic discussion about that between Mr. Dwyer and the online chatter.”

As for the discussion with the purported 14-year-old, it spanned multiple days, starting on the morning of July 12 and leading up to Dwyer’s arrest on July 14, 2023.

Dwyer arrived at the arranged meeting place — Laurel’s Riverside Park — and walked within 50 feet of law enforcement’s camper. However, he then headed back toward his vehicle, later telling his psychotherapist he’d realized it was wrong.

In those situations, law enforcement officials have to decide whether they should proceed with an arrest, Baukema said. “Sometimes that answer is yes, and sometimes it’s no.”

In this case, they arrested Dwyer. They found four condoms in his pocket and $100 in cash, with more condoms, cash and a firearm in his vehicle.

Dwyer, who was amid a severe depression, reportedly told the officers something like, “You should have just shot me.”

Competing experts

Dwyer made bail shortly after his 2023 arrest and underwent a psychosexual evaluation. Dr. Robert Page, who has extensive experience with sex offenders in Montana, concluded that Dwyer was “not paraphilic” and didn’t have sexual compulsions. Rather, Page theorized that Dwyer missed the adrenaline pumps brought by his dangerous and traumatic military service, “he had to compensate for that by doing stupid, dangerous things.” It eventually turned from motorcycling at high speeds to “seeking communications with females online,” Page said.

Another expert hired by the defense, Dr. Sarah Henry, has worked with hundreds of veterans over the years and said she’s seen those with PTSD engage in risky sexual behaviors — though this was her first involving sex with a minor.

In-line with the experts’ recommendations, Dwyer completed a seven-week long treatment program for veterans in Kentucky and another two-week brain program in Texas; it drove “tremendous change,” Dwyer’s wife testified, saying he’s back to the way he was 20 years ago.

However, social worker Mike Sullivan, who evaluated Dwyer for the state, said he believed the sexual aspect of the crime still needed to be addressed through sex offender treatment.

Harada felt the same way, jumping in at multiple points to express her frustration with the defense’s position. 

Arguing the case

Dwyer’s lead attorney, Rob DiLorenzo, insisted they were just following the experts.

“If he hadn’t been a combat soldier with post traumatic stress disorder, this never would have happened, because there is absolutely no history of this,” DiLorenzo said.

Dwyer “paid one heck of a price” serving his country and “there is an element of responsibility that we have to accept,” he said, suggesting it was “about time we paid for that service” with a lighter sentence.

However, Senior Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney John Ryan said the defense’s attempt to tie Dwyer’s 15-year-old injuries to the sex crime was “offensive” and not supported by evidence.

While there wasn’t a victim in the case, “there is a real marketplace where little kids are getting trafficked,” Ryan added, and “it exists because there are men like the defendant who will purchase sex with children.”

Harada later echoed that point.

Dwyer will have to register as a sex offender once he’s released from prison and follow a variety of conditions, including completing treatment and having limits on his contact with children.

Dwyer had been serving as an elected supervisor of the Cody Conservation District, but Friday’s felony conviction leaves him ineligible to vote or hold public office.

Harada is from a family of veterans and she thanked Dwyer for his service. The judge also said she’s glad he finally got the necessary treatment for his mental health.

“And if we have to think of the good things that have come out of this,” Harada said, “it’s that you did get the help you needed.”