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Man accused of molesting daughter

KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 9 months AGO
by KAYE THORNBRUGH
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | December 4, 2020 1:00 AM

HAYDEN — A man is in jail on $50,000 bail after police said he molested his daughter.

The 36-year-old Hayden man is charged with lewd conduct with a child under 16, a felony.

The charge stems from late November, when the 12-year-old girl allegedly told her mother she needed to wear one-piece pajamas to bed because her father sometimes put his hand down her pants while he thought she was asleep.

After making the man leave the family’s residence, the girl’s mother disclosed the incident to family members, who later contacted police, according to court documents.

The girl allegedly described to police four instances in which her father touched her private area.

When contacted by police at a Coeur d’Alene hotel on Dec. 1, the man allegedly said he did not remember touching his daughter as she described, though he said he once fell asleep beside her and woke up with his hand on her pants.

Police arrested the man at the hotel.

Judge James Stow ordered Wednesday that the man be held on $50,000 bail and issued a no contact order between the man and his children.

The Press is not naming the suspect because that would reveal the identity of the victim. The Press tries to protect the privacy of victims.

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