Indictment reiterates prior charges

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County grand jury indicted a Priest River man Wednesday on an identical set of charges he previously faced.

William David Clark was indicted on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and sexual abuse of a minor. He is being held at the Bonner County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bail.

The indictment replaced a criminal complaint that was brought against Clark earlier this month. The indictment came on the same day he appeared in Bonner County Magistrate Court for a preliminary hearing.

The criminal complaint was dismissed without prejudice during the hearing and Clark was arrested.

He had been free on $100,000 bond while the original case was pending.

Clark, 45, is accused of touching the genitals of a boy who was between the ages of 5-6 and persuading the boy to have sexual contact with a 3-year-old girl. The alleged abuse occurred last year in Priest River.

Clark denied the allegations in an interview with Priest River Police and contended they were fabricated by the boy’s father, although a polygraph Clark insisted upon taking showed deception, according to police reports in the case.

Clark’s defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Jeremy Featherston, said the state’s maneuvering cost his client his original bond and denied him an opportunity to contest the charges at the preliminary hearing.

Clark is scheduled to be arraigned in 1st District Court on Feb. 3. A defense motion to suppress is pending.

Grand jury proceedings were still ongoing at the Bonner County Courthouse as of Friday, although it’s unknown who they pertain to until an indictment is unsealed.