Lewd conduct suspect back in custody

SANDPOINT — A Kootenai man who failed to appear at a pretrial hearing in a lewd conduct case is back in custody, court records show.

Andreas Ludolf Breymann was the subject of a $100,000 arrest warrant after he failed to show at a November hearing in 1st District Court.

Court records do not specify whether Breymann turned himself on the warrant or was apprehended.

Breymann, 60, is charged with engaging in lewd conduct with a boy in 2009, when the alleged victim was between the ages of 13-14 years old, according to a criminal complaint. The conducted included fondling, oral sex and sodomy, resulting in three counts of lewd conduct.

The allegations didn’t surface until 2017.

The alleged victim, now 22, disclosed the alleged abuse to sheriff’s investigators in January. He told investigators some of the abuse was documented with a video recording that was later destroyed, a probable cause affidavit said.

Breymann had disputed the allegations, which he wrote off as “dreams” induced by the alleged victim’s drug use, according to court documents.

The alleged victim said he confronted Breymann about the abuse in November 2016 and Breymann allegedly responded by saying he never meant to harm him, which the victim took as an admission to the sexual abuse, the affidavit said.

Breymann allegedly admitted the abuse again in a recorded telephone conversation in January, a tactic known as a confrontation call. It’s lawful in Idaho to record a phone conversation without informing the person on the other end of the line that the recording is being made. The audio recording was collected as evidence in the case, according to court documents.

Breymann invoked his right to remain silent when sheriff’s detectives sought to interview him about the sexual abuse allegations, court records indicate.

A hearing in Breymann’s case is set for Jan. 16.

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