Man arrested on lewd conduct charge

SANDPOINT — A Priest River man has been arrested on charges alleging he molested an 11-year-old girl.

Judge Barbara Buchanan ordered Dayle Scott Westra held in lieu of $100,000 bail on Friday. He is charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, an offense which can result in a lifetime prison sentence if he’s convicted.

Westra, 36, raped and sodomized the girl on Thursday, charging documents said.

However, Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall told Buchanan that Westra had repeatedly abused the girl over an unspecified length of time. Following Thursday’s incident, a rape examination was conducted and the girl showed injuries consistent with being sexually abused, according to unsealed probable cause hearing testimony.

The state also obtained a warrant to secure a saliva sample from Westra, court documents indicate.

Buchanan appointed a public defender to represent Westra and entered an order forbidding him from having any contact with the girl or her parents.

A preliminary hearing is pending in magistrate court.