Missing man found in MT

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man who went missing while awaiting trial in a felony assault case has turned up in Montana, according to the Priest River Police Department.

Brandon Scott Cramer was arrested on a warrant in Flathead County on Wednesday, the department said on its Facebook page on Thursday. He was booked into the Flathead County Jail.

Cramer, 32, was reported missing by family members on New Year’s Day. Cramer disappeared after aggravated assault charges against him were reinstated by the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office, court records show.

Cramer is accused of attacking two people and threatening them with a pistol in the 100 block of Dry Creek Road on Oct. 17, 2017. Cramer’s sister, WendyJo Marie Cramer is accused of perpetrating a battery during the confrontation.

Charges against Brandon Cramer were dismissed without prejudice following a preliminary hearing in Bonner County Magistrate Court in November of last year. WendyJo Cramer, Steve Walkup and Megan Albertson provided Brandon Cramer an alibi by testifying that he was nowhere near the crime scene at the time of the confrontation. The testimony conflicted with that of the alleged victims.

Judge Justin Julian dismissed the charges against Brandon Cramer due to the wildly disparate testimony in the case and said perjury was afoot during the hearing.

The charges against Brandon Cramer were reinstated, while WendyJo Cramer, Walkup and Anderson were charged with perjuring their testimony during the preliminary hearing.

A joint preliminary hearing was conducted Wednesday in the perjury cases against WendyJo Cramer and Walkup. Julian ordered the duo to stand trial in 1st District Court after a 13-year-old testified that he saw them at the scene of the confrontation, testimony which the court found credible.

“That’s what tips the scales in this case,” Julian said.

WendyJo Cramer, 23, and Walkup, 31, are scheduled to be arraigned in district court on Feb. 12. They are free on bond while the case is pending.

Albertson, 33, waived her right to a preliminary hearing and is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 5.

Brandon Cramer became the subject of a $50,000 arrest warrant after he failed to appear at a preliminary hearing on Jan. 10. A new hearing date is pending, court records indicate.

Priest River Police, meanwhile, is grateful for the public’s assistance in locating Cramer.

“Thank you for all of your assistance in helping locate him,” the agency said in its social media post.

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