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Flint pleads guilty to reduced charges

Caddie Nath
Summit Daily News
Summit Daily/Kristin Skvorc
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Editor’s Note: Child pornography charges were eventually dismissed.

BRECKENRIDGE – Dennis Flint, the former Summit County health care executive charged with possession of child pornography in 2009, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years’ probation Monday after he accepted a plea bargain on lesser charges in December.

Flint, who pleaded guilty on misdemeanor charges of computer crime and harassment, was also ordered to pay more than $1,500 in court fees and his public defender’s fees – a requirement both his attorney Dana Christensen and District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said they had never seen before.



Sr. judge Terry Ruckriegle, who delivered the sentence, said Flint would be allowed to serve the 30-day sentence – 15 days for each charge – over time on his days off from his new job.

“We’re very happy,” Hurlbert said of the ruling. “We felt that the sentence was very fair.”



Hurlbert said his office had been looking for a sentence that included a period of supervision.

When asked about the sentencing and the conclusion of a criminal and legal process that’s consumed the last four years of his life, Flint said he was looking forward to beginning to repair his relationship with his children.

“I can’t wait to see my kids,” Flint said.

Flint pleaded guilty to the lesser charges Dec. 6 after two trials for child pornography possession last year – the first in June and the second in October – ended in mistrials due to hung juries. His defense alleged Flint was framed by his wife.

Flint was arrested in 2009 after an FBI investigation found graphic sexual images of children as young as 3 on computer hard drives in the Flint home in July of 2006. The FBI was tipped off by Flint’s now ex-wife, Dawn, who installed hidden software that captured screen images on the family’s computer.

Flint also pleaded guilty to one count of harassment in connection with an incident in 2008 when he was accused of injuring his daughter during an argument.

Flint said his daughter exaggerated her story of what happened.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret that incident,” Flint said during the hearing. “I’ve never physically harmed my children. Not once, ever.”

Ruckriegle upheld a restraining order prohibiting Flint from having contact with his ex-wife or his children, unless they want contact. The court will also monitor his personal computer.

Flint was CEO of High Country Health Care until March 2009, when he was arrested and charged with the two felonies. He is a Summit High School alumnus who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1977 before serving as a pilot in the Air Force.


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