Jury indicts man on lewd conduct charge

SANDPOINT — A grand jury has indicted a Washington state man on allegations that he molested a 5-year-old girl in Bonner County four years ago.

The indictment was unsealed upon Mark Richard Boncz’s arrest on Wednesday on a charge of lewd conduct with a minor.

Judge Debra Heise sustained Boncz’s $200,000 bail on Thursday and appointed a public defender to represent him, court records show. He was also ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim in the case.

The grand jury indicted Boncz on April 20, although the charging document was sealed until Boncz was taken into custody, court records show. Witnesses in the proceedings included a Bonner General Hospital pediatrician, an Idaho Department of Health & Welfare caseworker and Priest River’s chief of police.

Testimony given during the grand jury proceedings is sealed.

Boncz, a 54-year-old from Newport, Wash., engaged in genital-on-genital contact with the girl in 2005, the indictment alleges.

Fifteen grand jurors found there was sufficient cause to charge Boncz, court documents indicate.

A preliminary hearing in the magistrate division of 1st District Court is pending. If Boncz is ordered to stand trial and is convicted, he could be handed a lifelong prison sentence.

Jurors reportedly indicted a second person of an offense unrelated to the Boncz case, although Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall has said he is forbidden from discussing grand jury matters until indictments are unsealed.