SANDPOINT — A Washington state man accused of unlawfully possessing firearms as a felon in Bonner County pleaded not guilty, according to 1st District Court records.

Danny Harold Neep’s pleas trigger a three-day jury trial in 1st District Court in June.

Neep, a 61-year-old from Spokane, is accused of possessing a 20-guage shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle on Sept. 15, 2017. Neep is barred from possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions in California, court documents indicate.

The charges against Neep coincide with the disappearance of Mirissa Serrano, a 27-year-old Montana woman who went missing in Bonner County under circumstances authorities have declined to disclose. Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank has declined to say if Neep factored into the disappearance, although Serrano’s family members have publicly implicated him on social media and in published news reports.

Although county officials insist Serrano is a missing person, state police in Idaho and Montana do not, an indication that she may actually be considered dead. Serrano is not listed as a missing person in Idaho and Montana clearinghouses, nor is she listed as missing in the FBI’s database.

Officials also seemed intent on keeping Neep in custody. He was held for six months in Kootenai County after being arrested on a warrant and the charges against him emerged in Bonner County when he was due to be released, court documents show.

Neep’s implication on the weapons charges coincides with air and terrestrial searches along U.S. Forest Service Road No. 278, a remote mountain road overlooking the east side of Lake Pend Oreille, according to dispatch records.

Neep was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. Bonner County Deputy Public Defender Susie Jensen argued Neep has ties to northern Idaho and is not a flight risk, according to court documents.

Judge Barbara Buchanan agreed to reduce Neep’s bail to $10,000, a sum which accounted for his status as an out-of-state resident, court records indicate.

Neep was convicted in a 1976 forgery case out of Placer County and a 1999 illegal weapons possession out of El Norte County.

Neep faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted of the possession charges. However, Neep is being prosecuted as a persistent violator due to his prior felony convictions. If convicted of the underlying charges, he faces an additional term of five years to life in prison.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.