Sentence suspended in sexual battery case

COEUR d’ALENE — A Hauser contractor accused of forcing a teen girl to have oral sex avoided prison time as part of a plea deal.

Joshua C. LaRue, 45, had pleaded guilty in accordance with Alford last October to felony injury to a child and misdemeanor sexual battery.

By entering an Alford plea, LaRue does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence that he might be convicted if the case went to trial.

Judge Rich Christensen sentenced LaRue last week to six years fixed and three years indeterminate on the felony charge. Christensen suspended the sentence, placed LaRue on three years of supervised probation and ordered him to spend 90 days in jail.

For the misdemeanor charge, Christensen sentenced LaRue to 90 days in jail to be served concurrently with the other sentence.

LaRue was also ordered to pay $725.50 in court costs, as well as $480 in restitution.

If LaRue violates the terms of his probation, he faces at least six years in prison.

LaRue was originally charged in the case with four counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16 years old.

The accuser, a teen girl who now lives out of state, said LaRue forced her to have oral sex on at least four occasions, beginning when she was 13 years old.

LaRue, president of JL Construction and JL Steel Construction, both in Hauser, was arrested on a felony warrant in September 2019.

Investigators conducted interviews with the accuser and others for more than two months before bringing charges against LaRue, according to court documents.

The state reportedly agreed to amend the charges as a result of mediation that included the accuser.

The girl’s mother said in court last month that while she and her daughter were present for mediation, their input was not taken into account.

“Our voices were not heard that day when we told them what kind of a monster (LaRue) is,” the woman said. “We beg of the court to not let him get away with this.”

Christensen ultimately accepted the plea agreement.

The girl’s mother said the sentence would give her daughter neither peace nor justice.

“This case has ultimately destroyed our family,” she said in court last week.

As part of the plea agreement, Christensen ordered LaRue to have no contact with the girl.

This story has been updated for clarity.