Man accused of attack, rape

SANDPOINT — A Kootenai man is facing charges that he choked and raped an 18-year-old he met using a social media dating application.

Iniko Sabastian Garcia denied choking the woman and told Bonner County sheriff’s investigators that the sexual contact was consensual, court records indicate.

Garcia made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court via videoconferencing with the jail last Monday. Judge Lori Meulenberg set Garcia’s bail at $30,000 and entered a no-contact order in the case, court documents indicate.

Garcia, 21, is accused of raping the teen in Kootenai on Oct. 18, a criminal complaint said. Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Katie Murdock said in the complaint that the alleged victim resisted, but was overcome by force or was prevented from resisting due to an objectively reasonable belief that resistance would be futile or invite further violence.

The teen told investigators she met Garcia on the dating app Tinder last summer and talked intermittently over the phone and Internet, although the communication stopped until last month, a probable cause affidavit said. She said that she agreed to meet Garcia, also known as Niko, to determine if there was any romantic chemistry.

The alleged victim said Garcia did not appear the same as he did in online profile pictures or in over-the-Internet videoconferencing, the affidavit said. She said she told Garcia that they would not be having sex, but he allegedly forced her to and choked her in the process, according to the affidavit.

The teen said she began having a panic attack during the alleged rape, which caused him to stop, the affidavit states.

The incident was reported to Post Falls Police and the matter was referred to authorities and victim advocates in Bonner County, court records show.

Garcia initially denied having sex with the woman, but later admitted it. He insisted the sexual contact was consensual.

Photographs of bruising on the alleged victim’s neck were taken, although Garcia denied choking her and said he had his hand on her collarbone at one point, according to the affidavit.

Garcia has no prior criminal record in Idaho, according to the state supreme court data repository.