Sex offender charged with lewd conduct

A registered sex offender who recently moved to Coeur d’Alene from Minnesota was charged Tuesday with felony lewd conduct with a minor and felonious administration of drugs.

Scott J. Bailey, 34, is accused of using an anesthetic to drug the young girl. Bailey told investigators he obtained the chemical halothane while working in an ophthalmologist’s office several years ago.

After waving a rag soaked with the chemical in front of the girl’s face, she fell to the floor and made “rasping, gurgling” sounds, according to court documents. Bailey told police he brought out the halothane because “she wanted to know what it smelled like.”

Kootenai County Judge Eugene Marano set Bailey’s bail at $300,000 Monday and ordered him to stay away from the child. If convicted, Bailey faces 15 years in the state penitentiary for the charges, both of which are felonies.

Bailey is on probation for possessing child pornography. He pleaded guilty to the crime in February 2006 in Hennepin County, Minn. A spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office said Bailey’s apartment in a Minneapolis suburb was raided in the spring of 2005 and child pornography was found on his computer.

After pleading guilty to the child porn charge, Bailey spent two months in jail and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

As part of his sentencing, Bailey was ordered to stay away from computers and minors.

Apart from brief stints back in the Minneapolis area, including serving his jail sentence, Bailey has been living in Coeur d’Alene for at least a year, according to court documents.

While living here, he worked as a janitor and was under supervised probation by the Idaho Department of Corrections.

As part of his probation, Bailey was required to submit to lie detector tests. In late July, test administrators claim Bailey manipulated a test. He was ordered to take another polygraph.

Before being hooked up to the machine, he admitted to having sexual contact with a minor, according to court documents.

That sex crime is believed to have taken place during the summer of 2005. Bailey used the halothane on the minor sometime in May or June of 2006, according to court documents.

During his initial appearance in court Monday, Bailey insisted he has met the conditions of his probation.

He also asked for a lower bail. “I just want to get back to work,” he said.

Marano did not lower the bail amount requested by the prosecutor.

A date for Bailey’s next court hearing has not yet been set.