Mother, daughter indicted by grand jury for lewd conduct
By KEITH KINNAIRD
Hagadone News Network
SANDPOINT — A grand jury indicted two Boundary County women Friday on allegations that they repeatedly sexually abused a half-dozen children in Bonner County over an extended period of time.
Diane Lynn Hankey and Heidi Julia Johnson are charged with six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct, a felony that’s punishable by up to life in prison. Hankey is Johnson’s mother.
The two defendants were arrested on $1 million arrest warrants on Tuesday and made initial appearances in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Wednesday.
Judge Lori Meulenberg sustained the defendants’ bail and appointed public defenders to represent them, court records show.
Hankey, 55, and Johnson, 30, were ordered to have no contact with the alleged victims or any unsupervised contact with children if they post bail. They were further ordered to surrender their passports and waive their right to extradition proceedings if they flee the area.
The pair are scheduled to be arraigned in 1st District Court on Feb. 18.
The indictments against Johnson and Hankey allege sexual misconduct as far back as 2004 and as recent as 2012. The minors ranged in age from 1-14 and the duration of the alleged abuse ranged from three to eight years.
The grand jury indictments were issued following testimony from the alleged victims and officials from the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare and the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office. Mental health counselors and a physician also testified, the indictment states.
The indictments have roots in criminal cases from 2012 which were ultimately dismissed because post-charging investigation yielded additional allegations, creating the prospect of additional charges, court records indicate.
Ernest Ray Johnson III, the 33-year-old husband of Heidi Johnson, was charged with molesting one girl over a three-year period and sexually abusing another in 2010. Heidi Johnson was charged with felony injury to a child for her alleged complicity in the sexual abuse.
Diane and Frank Donald Hankey were not implicated in those cases, although their names turn up in the exchange discovery materials in those matters.
Additional indictments appear to be in the offing, according to the Idaho Statewide Trial Courts Record System and the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository. Ernest Johnson is a defendant in a sealed criminal matter with a case number which is not far off from the number of his wife’s case. Frank Hankey is also identified as a party in a sealed case.
Grand jury proceedings began earlier this month and have already yielded an unrelated lewd-conduct indictment against a Priest River man. The proceedings are still ongoing, courthouse officials say.
Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall declined comment on Wednesday due to the pending grand jury proceedings.