Hearing waived in bank card case

SANDPOINT — A Kelso Lake man accused of using a bank card belonging to a missing Bonner County woman is scheduled to be arraigned next month.

Jordan Jarrad Law’s plea hearing comes after nearly a half-dozen defense postponements of a preliminary hearing, where the state would have had to demonstrate that it possessed enough evidence to justify trying Law on a charge of unlawful use of a financial transaction card belonging to Rae Allison Berwanger, who has been listed as a missing person since early March.

Counsel for Law ultimately opted not to contest the state’s case in Bonner County Magistrate Court and waived his right to a preliminary hearing last month, setting the stage for his arraignment in 1st District Court on Oct. 7. Law is free on a $30,000 surety bond while the case is pending.

Law, 41, has not been formally named as a suspect in the disappearance of Berwanger.

Berwanger, 54, was last seen by her brother on March 3 at Law’s Kelso Lake Road residence, according to court documents. Berwanger took up residence in Law’s home earlier this year and friends and family said they were unable to contact her by phone or social media after she was last spotted.

Law told sheriff’s investigators he had not seen Berwanger after selling her his Pontiac Grand Am for $800, according to a probable cause affidavit. Law suspected Berwanger either went to visit her son in Florida or to meet online friends in Alaska.

Law, court records show, fabricated a story about finding the Pontiac high-centered on a snowbank on March 7 at Clagstone and Diagonal roads and managing to drive his vehicle and the Pontiac back to his home in a process he described as “leap frogging,”

That account, however, was contradicted by surveillance camera footage which showed Law making cash withdrawals at banks using Berwanger’s card in Spirit Lake and Coeur d’Alene on March 4-6, court documents indicate. When confronted about deception, Law was unable or unwilling to explain the reasons behind the attempted ruse, the affidavit said.

Berwanger’s disappearance has not been publicly acknowledged by authorities in Bonner County, although Idaho State Police list her as an adult missing person for whom there is a reasonable concern for her safety.

Law is charged with criminal possession of another’s financial transaction card, a felony which is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment upon conviction.

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