Grant will help prosecute sex crimes against children

The Kootenai County prosecutor’s office received a $494,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute people who sexually abuse and exploit children and to enforce sex offender registration laws. The two-year grant will be used to set up a task force to investigate and prosecute child-victim crimes in Idaho’s five northern counties, said Prosecutor Barry McHugh. The grant from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services is through the Child Sexual Predator Program, a news release said. McHugh wrote the grant as a cooperative venture among law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service. Other agencies that are partners in the proposal include the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police, the Rathdrum, Spirit Lake and Post Falls police departments, and the sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices from Shoshone, Boundary, Benewah and Bonner counties.