Change of plea in attack case

SANDPOINT — An Oldtown man who pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and threatening to kill his girlfriend on Hoodoo Mountain last spring is changing his pleas, according to documents filed in 1st District Court on Wednesday.

Patrick Allen Geaudreau is charged with first-degree kidnapping, aggravated battery, attempted strangulation and witness intimidation. His not guilty pleas set the stage for a trial next month, but a change-of-plea hearing is now set for Aug. 1, court records show. Geaudreau was also exposed to a sentencing enhancement because he allegedly used a deadly weapon during the commission of those crimes.

The bulk of the charges date back May 8, when Geaudreau took his girlfriend down a remote U.S. Forest Service and threatened to kill her for being unfaithful and dishonest, according to a probable cause affidavit. The 28-year-old woman told Bonner County sheriff’s deputies attacked her once the vehicle they were in reached a telecommunications site on the mountain’s summit. She said she was placed in a choke hold twice and managed to escape only to be recaptured and beaten with brass knuckles, the affidavit said.

The woman believed she was going to be killed on the spot, but told investigators that the commotion she raised prompted Geaudreau to find another location. She managed a third escape when they left the mountain, but was again tackled.

A passing motorist asked if she was OK and she said “no” and jumped into the person’s vehicle to make her escape, the affidavit said.

Geaudreau, 27, was subsequently charged with witness intimidation for allegedly soliciting others to persuade the woman to change or recant her story, according to court records.

Geaudreau is being held at the Bonner County Jail in lieu of $210,000 bail while awaiting sentencing.