SANDPOINT — A Blanchard man accused of kidnapping and raping a former girlfriend is pleading not guilty.

Joe Fred Ransom entered the plea in 1st District Court on Monday, clearing the way for a four-day jury trial in August. He remains held at the Bonner County Jail with bail set at $250,000 bail.

Ransom, 54, is accused of holding the 52-year-old woman against her will at her cabin near Spirit Lake on April 23. He’s further accused of raping the woman and threatening to kill her repeatedly during the extended ordeal.

Ransom was ordered to stand trial last month, after the woman gave a detailed and harrowing account of the incident during a preliminary hearing in magistrate court. Judge Lori Meulenberg ruled there was sufficient cause to try Ransom on the felony offenses, court records show.

The woman testified she and Ransom had visited some taverns before heading back to her place. She told the court Ransom had become enraged because she had another man at her place after she and Ransom broke up.

Ransom struck her in the head and face, threw her down and tried to goad her into stabbing him, according to the woman’s testimony. Ransom made her disrobe and get dressed a few times and had her contact her children so she could say goodbye to them before he killed her. He allegedly forced himself on her sexually before falling asleep.

Ransom left the residence to go eat breakfast later that morning and the alleged victim went to authorities after he departed, court records indicate. The woman underwent a rape exam and interior cheek swabs were later gathered from Ransom in a search for DNA evidence.

Ransom invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and did not testify during the preliminary hearing.

Ransom was prosecuted for attempted second-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and aggravated assault in Escambia County, Fla., in 1996, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. He was convicted and sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2006. He was released in 2014, the Florida corrections website said.