Man charged with incest

COEUR d’ALENE — A man who is in jail awaiting sentencing for child sexual abuse is now accused of additional sexual offenses.

The 39-year-old Coeur d’Alene resident is charged with sexual abuse of a child, lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 16 and incest, all felonies. The Press is not naming the suspect at this time because that would reveal the identity of the victim. 

The charges stem from December, when a minor told police the man had sexually abused her over a period of several months in 2023. She described to investigators multiple instances of alleged sexual abuse.

Under Idaho law, incest occurs when any person willfully marries or engages in sexual intercourse with another person “known to be within the degrees of consanguinity within which marriages are declared by law to be incestuous and void.”

These include such relationships between parents and children or ancestors and descendants of every degree, as well as between brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces or aunts and nephews.

The man has been in jail on $1 million bail since September 2023, when he was arrested on felony charges of child sexual abuse and lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 16. A child had disclosed to authorities that the man sexually abused her on multiple occasions.

In accordance with a pretrial settlement offer, the man pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse and prosecutors agreed to dismiss the lewd conduct charge.

A sentencing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 17. The crime carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Judge Mayli Walsh ordered last week that the man be held on $500,000 bail for the new charges.

In Idaho, lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 16 and incest in which the victim is under the age of 18 are each punishable by a maximum of life in prison.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or sexual abuse, call Safe Passage Violence Prevention Center’s 24-hour hotline: 208-664-9303.