Man Will Stand Trial On Molestation Charges Sandpoint Man Accused Of Abducting 8-Year-Old Boy

An 8-year-old boy pointed out a gray-haired man in court Wednesday and told a judge the man had threatened to mutilate him if he didn’t take off his clothes.

“I did what he said. I only had my socks on,” the Sandpoint boy testified after identifying 66-year-old Ronald J. Nordland as his attacker.

Nordland of Sandpoint was arrested Nov. 26 and charged with first degree kidnapping and lewd conduct with a minor. After a court hearing Wednesday, he was ordered to stand trial on the two felony charges. He is being held in the Bonner County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

He has denied he was involved in the incident. Nordland, a grandfather, has a prior record of sexual abuse. He was arrested in 1977 and pleaded guilty to molesting a 12-year-old girl. He only spent 120 days in jail for that crime.

The recent accusations against Nordland came from a third-grade boy who was helping his brother deliver newspapers when he was kidnapped.

The boy said Nordland drove up and stopped him and his 15-year-old brother on Lake Street.

Nordland claimed to be a police officer and shined a flashlight in the older boy’s face. He said the boy matched the description of a burglary suspect and ordered the brothers into his car.

“(My brother) asked him for a badge and he just said, `Get in the car,”’ the 8-year-old testified, saying he, but not his brother, eventually got in the car after Nordland threatened them with a knife. “He said he would cut us if one of us didn’t get in.”

The boy said Nordland sped away with him in the car, drove around a while and stopped. Nordland then ordered him to strip and said if he didn’t he would “cut off my penis,” the boy testified. “I was scared.”

The boy said Nordland then performed oral sex on him.

“He said he hasn’t done this before and said he was going to try it.”

At one point, Nordland pulled a green blanket over the boy’s head to hide him from a passing car. When Nordland finished, the boy said he dressed, was blindfolded by Nordland and dropped off at the Sandpoint Bowling Alley.

“He said count to 10 and take off the blindfold.”

The boy’s older brother had already alerted his mother and police about the stranger in the car. An hour later, authorities spotted Nordland parked on the west end of the city.

When authorities searched his car, they found a green blanket, flashlight, a knife, about eight newspapers and a jar of petroleum jelly.

Nordland, who has a court-appointed attorney, is scheduled to enter a plea in 1st District Court next month. If convicted of the crimes he could face life in prison.

Nordland is a retired carpenter. He’s married and has four grown children.