Charges mulled in battery case

SANDPOINT — Felony charges are being contemplated against two people accused of battering a woman in Ponderay on Wednesday night.

Patricia Ann Schuldt and Daniel Dean Fenlon are for now charged with misdemeanor battery, although court records indicate more serious charges are being considered.

Schuldt, 35, of Ponderay, and Fenlon, 34, of Sandpoint, were ordered held Thursday on $5,000 bail each. Public defenders have been appointed to represent them and no-contact orders have been entered in the case.

The pair was arrested on suspicion of second-degree kidnapping, but Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall did not file the charges. He told Judge Barbara Buchanan investigators want to review medical records and interview a witness, according to unsealed probable cause hearing testimony.

Schuldt was the alleged victim’s caregiver, a probable cause affidavit said. The woman was injured in a crash a number of years ago and Schuldt helped the woman twice a week.

The alleged victim told Ponderay Police that she was taken to Schuldt’s rented cabin in Ponderay, where a second man got too “touchy feely” and told them she wanted to leave, the affidavit said. That man is identified by name in court documents, but there is no record of him being charged.

A verbal argument turned physical when Schuldt allegedly hit her in the face and the woman fought back.

The woman told police Fenlon and the other man held her down on the ground and choked her, the affidavit alleged. The woman managed to flee the cabin by biting Schuldt’s hand.