Man faces lewd conduct charge

SANDPOINT — A convicted child molester is charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a Priest River boy over a five-year period.

Ronald Edward Aldrich made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Friday. Judge Daniel J. McGee appointed a public defender to represent Aldrich, court records show.

Aldrich, 48, is free on $100,000 bond while the case is pending. He is charged with one count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor.

Aldrich fondled the boy’s genitals from 2011 to March of last year, when the boy was between the ages of 11 and 15, a criminal complaint alleges.

The felony charge against Aldrich emerged last month, after the alleged victim disclosed the abuse to his parents. A Priest River Police officer testified during a probable cause hearing that the boy came forward to end the abuse and prevent it from happening to anyone else, court records indicate.

Aldrich was investigated by Priest River Police in 2013, although the case did not ripen to prosecution because witnesses were reluctant to come forward, according to court documents.

Aldrich was convicted of first-degree child molestation in Washington state in 2000. The state’s sex offender registry lists four victims who were between the ages of 6 and 10.

The registry said Aldrich was released from custody in 2005. He is categorized as a Level III sex offender, a classification for those who pose a high risk of re-offending or have predatory characteristics.

Aldrich pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a firearm in Bonner County in 2014, according to 1st District Court records.

At the time of the traffic stop in which a shotgun and rifle were discovered, Aldrich was in the company of a juvenile of an unspecified age.

Aldrich was charged with having prohibited access to school children in Bonner County in 2012, although the misdemeanor charge was reduced to disturbing the peace, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Database.

Aldrich was prosecuted in Shoshone County in 1999 on three counts of lewd conduct, but the state moved to dismiss the charges prior to trial, the database indicates.