Man accused of sexual assault

PONDERAY — A Kootenai man was ordered held Wednesday on $100,000 bail after he was charged with sexually assaulting 60-year-old woman.

Robert James Sutton Jr. is accused of violating the woman with his hand at a Ponderay home in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning. He is charged with forcible penetration by use of a foreign object, a felony which carries the potential of a lifelong prison sentence upon conviction.

Sutton, 24, reportedly declined to speak with law enforcement without an attorney, but told an officer he had done nothing wrong, according to the arrest report.

Bonner County Sheriff's Deputy Katie Rivera told a judge on Wednesday that the woman said she ordered Sutton to stop and pushed him away, court records allege. Sutton, according to court testimony, responded by pinning the woman to a bed and committing the assault.

Ponderay Police Officer Jimmy Cornelius told the court the defendant and the alleged victim have known each other for a period of time and a similar incident occurred between the two several years ago but wasn't reported at the time, court papers said.

Sutton plans to seek private counsel, court records show. Judge Barbara Buchanan ordered Sutton to have no contact with the woman.

A preliminary hearing in the case is slated for July 13.