Trial Ordered In Bizarre Case Of Lewd Conduct

Red-faced and giggling with embarrassment, a 14-year-old boy described having sex with his uncle’s girlfriend, while his uncle joined in.

On Monday, the teen’s 13-year-old brother quietly told a judge that he too had sex with the woman while his uncle stood nearby.

He was a fifth-grader at the time.

“This is one of the most bizarre, lewd and lascivious cases I’ve ever prosecuted,” said Bill Douglas, Kootenai County prosecutor.

On Monday, Judge Albert Parisot ordered that the youths’ uncle, Kenneth W. Wyckoff, 31, stand trial on two counts of aiding and abetting lewd conduct.

“By his presence he’s telling these kids this is acceptable conduct,” Parisot said. “He was encouraging it, he was promoting the activity by participating.”

Wyckoff’s girlfriend, 20-year-old Kimberly Ward, is charged with two counts of lewd conduct for having sex with the youths. Both she and Wyckoff could face up to two life terms each, if convicted.

“I can only call this a perverted voyeurism,” Douglas said Monday.

The boys’ mother testified that she let her younger brother and his girlfriend stay at her home last spring.

The mother was working two jobs to take care of her five children, who range in age from 7 to 16.

“Kenny (Wyckoff) was supposed to take care of the kids,” she testified.

But her 14-year-old son told the judge he and Ward had sex numerous times while his mother was at work. Most of the time his uncle would either watch or join in, the youth said.

The teen also testified that some of his friends also had sexual contact with Ward.

“She was like the town slut at the time,” the youth said.

Coeur d’Alene police learned about the alleged sexual misconduct after Ward said she had been raped.

Ward told Coeur d’Alene Police last May that her boyfriend’s nephew and three of his friends held her down and molested her.

The four youths were arrested.

However, investigators believe Ward instead initiated the sexual conduct with the boys herself.

Douglas said he expects to file other charges against her and possibly Wyckoff for the sexual contact she had with the other youths.

Both Ward and Wyckoff fled to California after they were charged, Douglas said. Police in Lancaster, Calif., arrested the two.

Wyckoff waived extradition but Ward did not. She is still in California but is expected to be returned to Kootenai County, Douglas said.

Douglas said the younger boy is in counseling. The older teen is in the juvenile detention center on burglary and theft charges.