Lewd case is dismissed

SANDPOINT — The case against a Priest River man accused of lewd conduct and sexual abuse of a minor has been dismissed.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall moved to dismiss the case against Ted Norman Engelbrecht to avoid further trauma to the alleged victim, according to court documents.

Marshall said in the dismissal motion that the girl’s therapist, Lynn Bolton, advised him that forcing her to continue with the legal process would not be in her best interest.

“Ms. Bolton also finds that there is a very strong potential that asking her to continue the case at this time creates the risk for further traumatization,” Marshall said in the motion.

Engelbrecht insists he is innocent of the charges, which he said were fabricated by the child’s mother, who is related to his girlfriend. Engelbrecht said he doesn’t know why the vendetta against him exists.

“I haven’t the slightest idea. She just doesn’t like me,” Engelbrecht said on Friday, almost a week after Judge Barbara Buchanan approved the state’s motion to dismiss.

Engelbrecht added that he passed a polygraph examination.

“I’m being accused and tried by the whole world for something I didn’t do,” he said.

Marshall moved to dismiss the case without prejudice, which enables the state to re-file the felony charges against Engelbrecht at a later date.

Engelbrecht, 50, was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct with a 4-year-old girl in Priest River in the summer of 2008. He was also accused of sexual abuse of a minor for soliciting a sex act. The allegations came to light this summer and he became the subject of a nationwide arrest warrant.

Engelbrecht said he was visiting relatives in southeastern Michigan when he was apprehended on the warrant. Engelbrecht said he was unaware of the pending warrant and was not trying to avoid capture.

The dismissal in the case came one day before an in-chambers hearing for a judge to determine the alleged victim’s competency as a witness. Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson called for the hearing, citing a state law allowing judges to determine the competency of witnesses under the age of 10.