Press Release from Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office
Jared R. Vansickle, 44, was convicted of Lewd Conduct With a Minor Under Sixteen and Sexual Abuse of a Child Under the Age of Sixteen. The charges stemmed from an incident on June 24, 2024, when Vansickle engaged in manual-genital, oral-genital, and/or genital-genital contact with a 15-year-old child (the daughter of a friend).
During the investigation, law enforcement learned that prior to the incident the defendant engaged in grooming behavior, including sending messages with sexual content to the victim and complimenting her appearance. In order to facilitate the sexual abuse on June 24, Vansickle took the child to an isolated location—to look for camping/hunting spots—where she wasn’t able to call for help.
Vansickle denied any memory of the incident, claiming to have suffered a traumatic brain injury earlier in life. However, when confronted about the incident by the child through text messages only days after the incident, Vansickle apologized to the child, asked if “it hurt,” told the child she did not have to worry about STD’s and that it was unlikely she was pregnant. Vansickle’s DNA was later confirmed to be on the victim’s genital area.
Lewd Conduct With a Minor Under Sixteen is a felony, punishable by up to life in prison. Sexual Abuse of a Child Under the Age of Sixteen is a felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Vansickle was sentenced on March 17, 2025, by District Judge Ross Pittman.
Vansickle’s criminal history includes a conviction for exhibition of a deadly weapon (firearm) following a 2018 road rage incident in Kootenai County.
At sentencing, Criminal Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura McClinton recommended a unified sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years for the charge of Lewd Conduct and a 25-year imposed sentence with no possibility of parole for the charge of Sexual Abuse of a Minor; to run concurrently.
District Judge Ross Pittman sentenced Vansickle to a unified 25-year prison sentence with parole eligibility after 10 years.
Prosecuting Attorney Stanley T. Mortensen thanks Laura McClinton for prosecuting the case and the Post Falls Police Department and Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office for investigating the case. The Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office stands with victims of abuse and will continue to work tirelessly to seek justice on their behalf and protect society from sexual predators.
