Reiling pleads to reduced charge

SANDPOINT — A former Sagle man who fled Bonner County to avoid being tried on a lewd conduct charge entered Alford plea Friday to an amended charge.

Stephen Robert Reiling entered the plea during a pretrial conference leading up to his retrial in 1st District Court. Reiling was tried earlier this month, but a jury deadlocked, prompting the declaration of a mistrial.

Reiling entered the Alford plea to an amended charge of felony injury to a child, court records show. Under the terms of his plea, Reiling admits no wrongdoing but concedes he could be convicted of the offense by a jury. He also entered an Alford plea to a felony bail jumping charge.

Under the terms of a plea agreement 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan ultimately agreed to adopt, Reiling was given a suspended two- to five-year term and ordered to serve 90 days in jail with credit for good behavior.

Compliant jail inmates can have five days shaved from their sentence for every 30 days of custody. Consideration for good behavior typically kicks in after a defendant begins serving their sentence, although Reiling’s attorney, Gary Amendola, successfully argued for good behavior consideration to be applied retroactively to April, when Reiling was returned to Idaho after lamming it in Hawaii for nearly three years.

As a result, Reiling’s sentence could be shortened to 60 days.

Reiling, 58, had no comment before Buchanan imposed the sentence, court documents show.

Reiling was ordered to pay $6,000 in restitution and placed on unsupervised probation for two years.

Reiling was to be tried in 2012 on allegations that he fondled the genitals of a girl in 2003, when she was between the ages of 8-9 years old. Reiling pleaded not guilty, but was a no-show at his trial.

Reiling was apprehended this spring when he was arrested under an assumed name in Hawaii. He was accused of battering and sexually assaulting a former girlfriend and a fingerprint analysis revealed his true identity.

Reiling took the stand in his own defense at trial. He categorically denied the allegations, but admitted fleeing Idaho because he and his family were subjected to harassment and threats.

“I really felt the hate,” Reiling testified. “If I left, my family would be safe. I would take all the hate with me.”

It appears authorities in Hawaii have ceased prosecution of Reiling. A search of the Hawai’i State Judiciary online database lists only one case and it’s a non-criminal case involving extradition proceedings.