PR man charged in sex abuse case

SANDPOINT — A rural Priest River man has been arrested on a host of child sex abuse charges, court records show.

Dana Andrew Furtney is charged with lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor, sexual battery of a child and ritualized abuse. He made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Friday.

Judge Tera Harden set Furtney’s bail at $500,000 and appointed a public defender to represent him, court documents indicate. The court also entered an order forbidding Furtney from having any form of contact with the alleged victims.

Furtney, 48, is accused of committing sexual battery of a teen via lewd conduct from 2013 to 2014, when the girl was 16-17 years old. He accused of engaging in lewd conduct with a 14-year-old girl during the same time frame, according to the criminal complaint.

Furtney is further accused of forcing a child between the ages of 11-12 years old to consume human feces and urine as part of a ceremony or rite in 2012 and 2013, the complaint alleges.

A Bonner County sheriff’s deputy received emails outlining the alleged abuse, according to a probable cause affidavit. The messages alleged that Furtney used manipulation and religious beliefs to control the alleged victims.

Furtney told the victims he was able to hear Jesus and that he was to be obeyed, the affidavit said. Moreover, Jesus approved of Furtney’s disciplinary actions and sexual contact as appropriate forms of behavior and punishment.

The alleged victims underwent forensic interviews in Lucas County, Ohio.

One of the victims said he was led to a storage container, where his feet and hands were shackled to a wall. He said he was denied food and forced to consume Furtney’s excrement in what he described as a “dungeon.” One of the female teens gave a similar account, according to court documents.

Furtney, also known as Andrew Furtney, has no prior criminal record in the state of Idaho, according to the state supreme court data repository. Furtney, who lists an address in the 900 block of Peninsula Loop Road, has no pending criminal charges in Lucas County, according to online court records in Ohio.