Party Boss Faces Molestation Charge Ex-Councilman Accused Of Lewd Conduct With Minor

Bob Brown, chairman of Kootenai County’s Democratic Party, was arrested Thursday on charges he had molested his 14-year-old stepgrandson.

Brown - a former city councilman, attorney and well-known community activist - was charged with one count of lewd conduct with a minor.

When investigators arrested him at his Hayden Lake home shortly after 7 a.m., Brown admitted having had oral sex with the boy, said Kootenai County sheriff’s detective Kent Johnston.

“He did say he’s sorry that it happened but basically he was educating the boy,” said Johnston, who interviewed Brown Thursday morning. “He was saying performing oral sex on the boy was more to show him something than for sexual purposes. I’m not sure I fully understand it.”

Brown’s arrest dismayed many in the county, where the 59-year-old father of two is known as an advocate for the arts and a pillar of the Democratic Party.

“That’s not the Bob Brown I know,” said Barbara Chamberlain, a former state legislator. “Bob is friendly; he’s a very involved citizen. He’s always been very thoughtful toward my own children.”

“I’m heartsick,” said Sue Flammia, a Coeur d’Alene attorney active in the arts. “He’s done so much for this community. He’s been a very fine, public citizen always working for the good of the community.”

Brown’s step-grandson lives in Southern California, but came to visit his grandparents at their Hayden home last summer.

The boy spent the evening of Aug. 6 playing Yahtze with Brown and his wife Anne Salisbury-Brown, according to a Kootenai County Sheriff’s report.

When the game ended, Anne Salisbury-Brown left the room and went to bed. Brown then initiated oral sex with the boy, according to the sheriff’s report.

Brown apologized to the teen later, saying he’d had a lot to drink, and asked the boy not to tell anyone, according to the report.

But when the boy returned to California after the visit, he asked his mother to take him to a clinic to be checked for venereal diseases. The boy at first implied he’d had sexual contact with a woman, but later told his mother about being molested by Brown, Johnston said.

Working with the San Diego Sheriff’s Child Abuse Unit, Johnston obtained tape recordings of Brown talking with the boy and his mother.

Although the tapes of those conversations have not been made public, a brief synopsis, included in the sheriff’s report, follows:

“Bob told (the youth) that he … thought that he would show (the youth) something that he himself never had the opportunity for, since his father had died when he was young. He told (the youth) that some may think what happened between them was “child sexual abuse,” but that he didn’t think of (the youth) as a child.”

Repeated calls throughout the day Thursday to Brown were not returned. Brown’s wife also declined to comment, saying, “There’s so much that is unknown.”

Brown faces up to life in prison if convicted as well as disciplinary action from the Idaho State Bar.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas, a Democrat active in the party, said he intends to request a special prosecutor for the case today to avoid any conflict of interest.

“There are several people in this office who know Bob quite well because of his involvement in this community, including myself,” he said.

The special prosecutor likely will be a prosecutor from another county, Douglas said.

Judge Barry Watson released Brown from jail on personal recognizance early Thursday afternoon.

Brown’s friends urged the community not to judge the man based solely on accusations.

“These sorts of charges are the most unpleasant for everyone,” Chamberlain said. “It is important that this be handled carefully.”

From 1972 to 1985, Brown worked at North Idaho College, serving part of that time as the Assistant Director of Vocational Education.

Brown, who was a Coeur d’Alene city councilman from 1982 to 1985, spent much of his time in office fighting to save Lake Coeur d’Alene’s shorelines from development.

He has worked in theater groups, served on the Idaho Commission on the Arts and was instrumental in putting together the Kootenai County Arts Alliance.

Brown also is active in the Kootenai County Task force on Human Relations, is a past president of the Kootenai County Democratic Club and is currently chairman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee.

Although Brown has been central to local politics, Democrats down-played the effect his arrest will have on the Kootenai County party.

Katherine von Hagen, secretary of the county Democratic Central Committee, said she was unsure what step the party would take now in terms of Brown’s chairmanship to the central committee.

“I don’t know why anyone would ask him to step down, he certainly hasn’t been convicted of anything at this point,” said Florence Blackbird, president of the Democratic Club.

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