No charges in wake of 'sexting' scandal
SANDPOINT — Criminal charges are not being sought against a former Sandpoint Police detective accused of exchanging sexually explicit images with a woman he met during a drug investigation several years ago.
Christian James Higbee, 29, was the subject of an Idaho State Police investigation this spring, after the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office received a copy of video footage allegedly depicting Higbee displaying his genitalia.
The nine-second video taken with a wireless phone camera was allegedly sent from Higbee’s phone to the 32-year-old woman’s phone late last year, according to the ISP report.
The practice of sending sexually explicit text messages and photos via wireless phones is sometimes known as sexting.
The footage was copied onto a DVD and supplied to the sheriff’s office by a confidential informant, the report said. The matter was referred to Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall, who asked ISP to investigate the allegations against Higbee.
“I decided it would be best if this was looked at by ISP,” Marshall said on Wednesday, explaining that he wanted to short circuit conflict-of-interest claims or challenges to the investigation’s veracity.
A state police detective interviewed the woman in April. The woman reluctantly told ISP Det. Julie Goacher that she met Higbee when he arrested her during a 2006 methamphetamine trafficking investigation.
The woman said Higbee began sending her text messages about a year after her arrest and the tone of the digital correspondence turned sexual when he asked her to send nude pictures of herself to his phone, according to the report.
The woman explained that she complied with the request out of fear that Higbee would use his authority to railroad her or a relative on a bogus criminal charge.
“I’m scared, because he will totally mess with me and my family,” Goacher quotes the woman as saying during an April 26 interview.
The police report said the woman estimated that she sent Higbee four pictures of herself, while he allegedly sent 15 to 20 naked ones of himself.
Evidence in the case includes the video footage and three still images, which also show male genitalia, the report indicates.
The woman stated Higbee never touched her, although she said he did attempt to arrange a late-night rendezvous at a city park, but she refused the advance, the report said.
Although initially cooperative with the investigator, the report goes on to indicate that she declined to make a recorded telephone call to Higbee and did not want criminal charges advanced against him.
Marshall ultimately concluded that Higbee’s alleged conduct did not warrant criminal charges of harassment, bribery or corruption.
“It is also clear from the investigation report as well as my conversations with Julie (Goacher) that there is nothing to indicate that any of the text messages or pictures sent by Mr. Higbee to (the woman) were unwanted. (The woman) is clear that she had never told Mr. Higbee to stop this behavior until the time of this investigation,” Marshall said in a May 21 letter advising ISP of his decision not to pursue charges.
Sandpoint Police Chief Mark Lockwood was not immediately available for comment late Wednesday afternoon, although he told radio station KPND that Higbee resigned in June.
Higbee could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Higbee’s local phone number has been reassigned to a new customer.
A 2008 profile attributed to Higbee on Plaxo, an online address book and social networking service, indicated he was married and began working for Sandpoint Police in 2000.