Sex offender charged with failure to register

COEUR d’ALENE — A man is facing a felony charge after police said he failed to register as a sex offender when he moved to Idaho about 20 years ago.

Michael W. Skehan, 43, of Coeur d’Alene, is charged with failure to register, a felony.

The charge stems from April, when Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies contacted Skehan for an unrelated incident and determined that he was a noncompliant sex offender out of Oregon.

Skehan pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in the third degree in Oregon in 2001.

The victim in the case was 14 years old, according to court documents, while Skehan was 22 years old.

In Idaho, persons convicted of certain felony sex crimes are required to register with their local sheriff’s office.

Police said the crime of sexual abuse in the third degree, a Class A misdemeanor in Oregon, equates to Idaho’s felony crime of lewd conduct with a minor under 16.

For this reason, police determined that Skehan had a duty to register as a sex offender if living, working or attending school in Idaho.

Skehan said he had resided in Idaho for about 20 years.

Police obtained a warrant for Skehan’s arrest.

He was taken into custody on Wednesday and posted $1,000 bail.