Sen. Furness Waives Preliminary Hearing

State Sen. Rex Furness, R-Rigby, has waived a preliminary hearing on a sex charge involving his 16-year-old granddaughter, and will appear in district court on the charge.

The four-term state legislator remained free on bond. No district court date was set.

Furness was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday on a charge of felony sexual battery, but his attorney, Blair Grover, waived the hearing late Monday.

Based on a taped interview between Furness and an attorney general’s investigator, Madison County prosecutors say Furness has confessed to fondling his granddaughter, and paying her after one incident.