Man jailed on molestation allegations

SANDPOINT — A 46-year-old Bonner County man was arrested Tuesday on allegations he repeatedly molested a 9-year-old girl.

Curtis Edward Jackson is charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct, charges which can result in a lifelong prison sentence upon conviction.

Judge Debra Heise set Jackson’s bail at $100,000 on Wednesday and ordered him to have no contact with the alleged victim or her family, court records show. A public defender has been appointed to represent him.

A preliminary hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to try Jackson on the charges is pending in magistrate court.

The allegations against Jackson emerged earlier this month, after a sibling of the girl discovered the two together alone, according to unsealed probable cause hearing testimony.

The sibling confronted the girl, who reluctantly admitted Jackson had been molesting her, Bonner County Sheriff’s Det. Phyllis Jay testified during the probable cause hearing.

During a police interview earlier this week, the girl disclosed that Jackson molested her fewer than 20 but more than 10 occasions between the summer and this fall.

“She described the three (occasions) that she could remember the clearest,” Jay testified at the hearing.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall recommended $100,000 bail, a sum which was approved by Heise, court records indicate.