A Kila man admitted in Flathead District Court on Wednesday to sexually assaulting a child.

Noah Laverne Powell, 32, pleaded guilty to one felony count of sexual assault.

On the witness stand, he admitted assaulting a 13-year-old girl in October 2014.

As part of a plea agreement, the charge was amended from sexual intercourse without consent. Another charge of sexual intercourse without consent was dropped as part of the agreement. That charge involved a separate incident where another teen girl told Kalispell Police that Powell had touched her inappropriately.

The prosecution and defense have agreed to recommend a 40-year sentence to Montana State Prison with 30 years suspended.

“I will order a presentence investigation,” Flathead District Judge Robert Allison said. “I believe in this situation that will require a sex-offender evaluation.”

Allison was wary of defense attorney Caleb Simpson’s suggestion of using a sexual evaluator who works out of Missoula.

“If it’s going to take him longer than the two months to get his report done, I don’t even want him to start,” Allison said.

Other offenders have waited in jail for up to six months while evaluations were completed by the same provider, Allison said.

Another qualified evaluator in Libby tends to get reports done much more quickly, Allison noted.

“I’m not trying to be hard-nosed,” Allison said. “I’m trying to avoid some delays we’ve had in the past.”

Prosecutor Alison Howard was also leery about using the Missoula evaluator.

“I’ve seen it so many times,” Howard said of delays in sex-offender evaluations. “It doesn’t matter to me if Mr. Powell might sit here for the next six months, but I guarantee it matters to Mr. Powell.”

Sentencing was tentatively set for Aug. 11.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.