Milton Courter was in good spirits, smiling and laughing in Flathead District Court Thursday morning as he was handed a three-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of prostitution.

The 78-year-old Courter is barely mobile, capable only of short, shuffling steps, but between September and October of 2012 he paid 24-year-old Andrea Wyatt of Kalispell $1,600 to have sex with him four times, with an additional two times at no charge.

Courter reported his own criminal indiscretion after Wyatt and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Trevor Lanktree, also of Kalispell, stole an entire box of his checks and forged nearly $4,500 worth of them.

A court document in the case states that Courter told a detective that “the checkbook had to have been stolen by Wyatt because he was paying her ... for sexual encounters.” He also bought her items worth around $400 instead of giving her cash for some of the encounters.

Wyatt later admitted that she had been prostituting herself to Courter and was eventually convicted of felony forgery, three misdemeanor counts of prostitution and a misdemeanor count of theft in a second case. Four other counts of prostitution were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

She was sentenced to five years with the Montana Department of Corrections.

Lanktree was also charged, but those charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement encompassing five cases that led to a sentence of five years with the Department of Corrections and five years of probation.

Courter’s guilty pleas came after his charges were reduced from one misdemeanor count and six felony counts of prostitution to seven misdemeanor counts of prostitution. The seventh count was dismissed.

For each of the six counts to which he pleaded guilty, Courter was given a six-month suspended sentence to run consecutive to one another and ordered to pay a $200 fine and a $75 surcharge, for a total of three years suspended, $1,200 in fines and a $450 surcharge.

Despite arguments by Courter’s attorney that Courter received only $1,200 per month in Social Security disability and pension payments, making it nearly impossible for him to pay any fines, District Judge Robert Allison said they were necessary.

“It apparently was enough to pay a prostitute $400 for six ... sessions, if you will, over a little more than a month and a half,” Allison said.

Courter countered that he is now “as broke as I can be.”

“I have a hard time surviving even from what Andrea Wyatt did to me,” he said, referring to her theft of his money through forged checks.

Allison said that if Courter pays off all of his fines and surcharges, he will consider releasing him from the remainder of his suspended sentence. He also told Courter to stay out of trouble.

“I’ve learned my lesson,” Courter agreed, laughing again.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.