Couple pleads not guilty to kidnapping charge

SANDPOINT — A criminal case involving a Ponderay couple arrested for battery has expanded to include first-degree kidnapping charges. A third defendant has also been added to the case.

Daniel Dean Fenlon and Patricia Ann Fenlon have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are slated to be tried separately in 1st District Court.

The state has moved to consolidate the two cases, although the defense is objecting to the motion, court records indicate.

Daniel Fenlon, 34, and Patricia Fenlon, 35, are free on $5,000 bond each.

A third suspect in the case, 35-year-old Shane Anthony Newman, is also charged with kidnapping. He failed to appear at an arraignment hearing in June and is now sought for arrest on a $25,000 warrant.

The trio is accused of holding a physically disabled woman against her will at the Monarch Cabins in Ponderay on Feb. 24. The Fenlons were originally charged with misdemeanor battery, but the charges were upgraded to kidnapping after further investigation into the matter.

Patricia Fenlon was the caregiver to the alleged victim in the case, court documents said.

The woman, who is in her late 30s, told Ponderay Police Newman sat with her on a couch and touched her inappropriately, according to testimony from an April 28 probable cause hearing. The woman said she wanted to leave and a struggle ensued.

The woman, who is on pain medications, was restrained, but managed to escape the cabin and alert authorities.

Following their arrest, the Fenlons disputed the alleged victim’s account and insisted she flipped out for no apparent reason and attacked them. Newman gave police a statement alleging that the woman had to be restrained because she attacked Patricia Fenlon.

The state has moved to consolidate the Fenlons’ cases in the interest of judicial economy. Prosecutor Louis Marshall said in court documents the cases should be fused because they involve the same allegations witnesses, law enforcement, medical personnel and bystanders. Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson is objecting to the state’s motion and a hearing on the consolidation motion is scheduled for Monday.