Lewd conduct suspect enters not guilty plea

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint man indicted by a Bonner County grand jury on a series of child sex crimes pleaded not guilty on Monday, according to 1st District Court records.

Jess Robert Logan’s plea sets the stage for a jury trial. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Oct. 19, although the date of a jury trial is pending.

A grand jury indicted Logan last month on three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, two counts of sexual abuse of a minor and one count of committing an infamous crime against nature.

Logan is being held at the Bonner County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. Logan turned himself in upon learning there was a warrant for his arrest.

Logan is accused of sexually abusing two girls between September 2013 and April 2015, when the alleged victims were about 6 and 8 years old, respectively. He’s also accused of having sexual contact with a dog and exposing the girls to pornography, according to the indictment.

Logan was prosecuted in 2015 for engaging in lewd conduct with one of the alleged victims named in the indictment, although it ceased after she was unable to articulate her experiences with Logan on the witness stand. The case was dismissed without prejudice, which allowed the state to re-file it.

However, a grand jury was instead empaneled, which resulted in an expanded case against Logan.

Lewd conduct in Idaho is punishable by up to life in prison, while sexual abuse of a minor is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. A bestiality conviction results in a mandatory-minimum sentence of five years, according to Idaho Code.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.