Prior sexual assault allegations against commissioner candidate made public

Idaho Attorney General’s Office declined to file criminal charges

By Soncirey Mitchell and Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

The regular business meeting of the Bonner County Board of Commissioners took an unexpected turn Oct. 6, when residents Dan and Dian Welle testified during the public comment period, referring to a Bonner County Sheriff’s Office incident report detailing alleged sexual crimes committed by Republican District 2 commissioner candidate Jeff Roberts, of Priest River.

According to the redacted records, the unnamed female accuser contacted authorities on June 1, 2026; however, the incident allegedly occurred two years prior. The investigation was turned over to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office in August, which “decided against filing criminal charges,” according to a Sept. 14 letter to the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office. 

The Welles submitted printed copies of the documents to the BOCC, which they obtained through a public records request, identifying the alleged offenses as “forcible fondling” and “attempted forcible rape.”

“The accusations behind this closed investigation are unequivocally false, and I fully deny these allegations,” Roberts told the Reader in an Oct. 7 email. “When made aware of the investigation, I immediately submitted to and passed a polygraph test administered by a licensed professional. This test was provided to the Sheriff’s Office shortly thereafter.”

Endorsed by the Bonner County Republican Central Committee, Roberts bested sitting Commissioner Asia Williams for the Republican nomination for District 2 commissioner in the May 2026 GOP primary. He is slated to appear on the November general election ballot unopposed.

According to the incident report, Roberts initially agreed to meet with deputies in person, but later canceled the meeting, communicating instead through his lawyer, Michael G. Palmer, of Coeur d’Alene-based Palmer | George PLLC. The records do not make mention of any additional interviews with Roberts.

“This matter was investigated by the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from other agencies and referred by the Bonner County Prosecuting Attorney to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office,” Roberts told the Reader. “As evidenced in the letter from the Idaho deputy attorney general, no charges were filed; and, after reviewing the facts discovered during the investigation, the state of Idaho formally considers the matter closed.”

‘The difference between allegations and facts’

Roberts’ campaign for Dist. 2 commissioner draws on his career as a general contractor; his membership in the right-wing, anti-communist political group the John Birch Society; and his leadership in an Oregon branch of the anti-government militia group the Three Percenters, which has been considered a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2021. According to his campaign website, votejeffroberts.com, his political views were shaped by his experience witnessing “firsthand” the FBI siege of Ruby Ridge.

The allegations made against Roberts stemmed from two individuals — the accuser and a person close to her — whose names have been redacted from the public file. Both individuals spoke to deputies and representatives from LillyBrooke Family Justice Center on multiple occasions, reportedly telling them that Roberts had “hurt” and “raped” the accuser, necessitating that she go to Mitchell’s Harvest Foods in Priest River “to buy a morning after pill or Plan B pill,” where another undisclosed incident allegedly occurred, according to the report. 

The testimony in the report went on to state that Roberts “does creepy things like pat [the accuser] on the butt and talk to himself in the third person.”

When asked why she had not come forward sooner, the accuser reportedly told deputies that Roberts leveraged his membership in the Three Percenters to threaten her, allegedly stating, “I have contacts everywhere,” and, “I’ll tell them where you are.”

The accuser told interviewers that “she was worried that Jeffrey would ‘assassinate her’” if she spoke to anyone, according to the incident report.

“I trust the people of Bonner County to recognize the difference between allegations and facts, and to see these tactics for what they are,” Roberts told the Reader. “The primary election made it clear that voters are tired of accusation, insinuation and character assassination. Unfortunately, there are those willing to go to extraordinary lengths to destroy someone politically. The people of Bonner County are smarter than that, and I trust they will see through it. I will not allow these tactics to distract me from the work ahead or from earning the trust of the people I hope to represent.”

Through the course of the investigation, deputies were unable to uncover definitive physical evidence, with the accuser admitting to “throwing the pants away” that she wore during the alleged incident. Deputies could not obtain security camera footage from Mitchell’s Harvest Foods, as the security cameras automatically override recordings after three days, according to the report. However, the sheriff’s investigation indicated that the accuser recounted the alleged incident in her journal two years ago.

‘The inherent conflict of interest’

Following the initial investigation, the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office turned over the case to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office — a move that sparked confusion among some members of the public, with Dan Welle questioning whether it constituted “special handling for a candidate-elect.”

“The candidate has every right to be deemed innocent until proven guilty,” stated Dan Welle at the Oct. 6 BOCC meeting. “However, what happened was that the report was effectively buried in the process. The county surely knew, the prosecutor knew, the sheriff knew — who did not know was the voting public. … Charges of this type should not be hidden from the voting public.”

When asked by the Reader why the case was referred to the attorney general, Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall stated that, “I can categorically assure the public that my office, as well as the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office, in no way have attempted to protect any suspect, other than following the law and respecting the constitutional rights of the accused.”

He continued that, “The AG has a special prosecution unit charged with handling matters like these where county prosecutors can’t proceed with cases because the suspect is a county official, or, in this case, a person who has won a county election. 

“I was required to conflict the matter to a special prosecutor and I followed the rules of ethics,” he added. “If additional facts come to light we will send the information to the AG to reassess the case.”

When the Reader pointed out that Roberts had only won a primary nomination — not the general election — Marshall responded, “That is technically correct. However, we have to act under the perception of a conflict of interest. If I would have acted one way or the other it would have been perceived as political in nature.”

At the same time, Marshall stated, “All persons involved in the investigation believed the accusations to be credible and, as such due to the inherent conflict of interest, I submitted the matter to the Idaho attorney general to review the case and press charges if they decided to do so. Whether or not I agree with the decision of the AG is irrelevant.”

On Sept. 14, following a review of the investigation, Deputy Attorney General Madison Gourley informed Marshall that her office “decided against filing criminal charges” and “consider[s] this matter closed.”

“Based on the facts revealed in the investigation, we do not believe we can prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” wrote Gourley.

The AG’s ruling ended the investigation into the alleged incident, barring new evidence or testimony.

“My office has and will continue to be a resource for this victim and fully supports victims of violent crimes in our community,” Marshall told the Reader, going on to state, “My office has been very aggressive pursuing crimes against children over the years. We have taken a lot of cases to trial that many other prosecutors would likely decline. … We will continue to take this stand until there is a different prosecutor in this office.”

‘Not informed of any allegations’

Though the investigation has concluded, its exposure at the Oct. 6 BOCC meeting spurred insinuations both on social media and in public testimony, with Amy Lunsford stating before commissioners, “[I]s the BCRCC serving up a pervert to the voters?”

BCRCC Chair Roger Rudd, who is running unopposed in the Nov. 3 election for the position of Bonner County Clerk, told the Reader that the committee “was not informed of any allegations” until the Welles’ comments at the Oct. 6 BOCC meeting, and that the allegations were “first reported to law enforcement on June 1, 2026, weeks after the May primary,” and therefore after the committee had already published its voter guide and endorsements.

As of press time, Roberts retained his endorsement from the BCRCC.

“Idaho law provides no mechanism to remove or replace a party’s nominee at this stage,” Rudd told the Reader. “The nominee was chosen by the voters in the primary. Under Idaho Code sections 34-715 and 34-717, the deadlines for any withdrawal or replacement of a nominee passed in early September, and the nominee’s name remains on the ballot by operation of law. Neither this committee nor anyone else can change that now.”

Rudd told the Reader that any decisions regarding the “committee’s own position” in response to the allegations would “require action by the membership.” It was not immediately clear whether the BCRCC would bring the issue forward at a future meeting.

In a further twist, though the Oct. 6 meeting was livestreamed and uploaded to the Bonner County YouTube page — as is standard practice — the public no longer had access to the recording as of press time. Several hours after the meeting’s conclusion, Commissioner Williams reported in a Facebook post that the county had removed the video under instructions from BOCC Chair Ron Korn. 

Neither he nor Williams publicly confirmed the reason for its removal as of press time. A fellow member of the Three Percenters, Korn has given Roberts his personal endorsement, which is posted on Roberts’ campaign website.

Following public complaints that the video was unavailable, Williams instructed staff to reupload the recording and requested a review of Korn’s actions by county legal counsel.

“Legal has rendered an opinion to Commissioner Korn that if he wants the video removed from the county website that he needs to put it on an agenda item for the entire board to vote on,” wrote Williams in an Oct. 6 Facebook post. “The video has NOT been restored to the County website. There has Not been a board vote to remove the video.”

Commissioners did not respond to a request for comment by press time.