Sagle man charged with lewd conduct

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is pending for a Sagle man accused of sexually abusing a minor in 2013.

Christopher John Lawson is charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a preteen girl.

The allegations against Lawson emerged in the fall of 2020, when the alleged victim's mother said her daughter disclosed the abuse. The girl said she and another girl were in a hot tub and Lawson was chasing them around inside the tub.

The girl told investigators Lawson grabbed her by her bathing suit and fondled her genitals, according to a probable cause affidavit. The girl said Lawson questioned whether he was making her uncomfortable while abusing her, the affidavit said.

A relative of Lawson's reported he had displayed concerning behavior, which included surreptitiously video recording her through a bedroom window, stealing women's underwear from a Sandpoint apartment complex while delivering mail for the U.S. Postal Service and finding what appeared to be child pornography on a laptop computer, according to court documents.

Lawson, the affidavit said, initially denied knowing where the underwear came from, but later admitted taking them after observing a woman doing laundry at an unspecified apartment complex.

Lawson was arrested in December 2020, but court records are unclear whether he remains in custody at the Bonner County Jail.

A preliminary hearing in the case is set for Wednesday in Bonner County Magistrate Court.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and followed on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.