Ex-NIC employee could face more charges

Former North Idaho College financial aid director Joseph M. Bekken could face additional charges, including lying to a federal agent and misusing federal funds, as investigators dig deeper into his alleged scheme to entice students to have sex in exchange for college aid.

A Kootenai County judge lowered Bekken’s bond to $25,000 from $100,000 Tuesday morning, even as a prosecutor said Bekken is suspected of using federal financial aid to buy photographs from a woman. Bekken, 36, was released from the Kootenai County Jail later in the day.

He is charged with five felonies, including attempting to procure a prostitute, attempting to misuse public money and bribery using scholarship money from NIC’s private nonprofit foundation.

The criminal complaint against him may be amended after a woman came forward saying she had received “a significant amount of money” from Bekken for the photos, said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jedediah Whitaker.

Whitaker told 1st District Court Judge James Stow that the woman apparently was paid using college funds from a federal program. Officials haven’t said what the photos depict.

Bekken also allegedly lied to an FBI agent when he said during a police interview that he had never used college funds for improper purposes aside from the one incident that led to his charges, Whitaker said. That could bring an additional charge of lying to a federal agent, he said.

“This is a person who cannot be trusted in the community,” Whitaker said in arguing against the requested bond reduction.

Bekken’s attorney, Anne Taylor of the firm Anderson Palmer George & Walsh PLLC, asked Stow to set bond between $5,000 and $10,000. She said Bekken, who is from New Mexico, has family from out of state supporting him and that he would remain in the area and stay with a friend upon his release from jail.

Taylor also told the judge that Bekken did not flee during the 16-day period he knew police were investigating him and were likely to arrest him. He began looking for a new job with local companies during that time, after NIC had fired him, she said.

Taylor also said Bekken’s alleged conduct “was not a predatory-in-nature act” but instead “consensual acts between adults.”

Bekken allegedly used a Craigslist notice to contact students with an offer of scholarship money in exchange for sexual relations. Police, working with NIC and the FBI, created a false student account under the name Sheryl Roberts to respond to the solicitation.

He is accused of securing $587 from the foundation for the fictitious student with the understanding he would go to her apartment to have sex with her on Feb. 2. Police confronted and interviewed him, and the college fired Bekken that day.

“He lied to his employer, he lied to his wife, he lied to his family,” Whitaker said.

“He only talked to (investigators) after he got busted in a sting,” he added.

Bekken also did not reveal to his wife, an instructor in NIC’s College Skills Division, that he was being investigated, Whitaker said, citing a recorded phone conversation the couple had after his arrest.

“And so we just have a series of lies,” he said.

Molly G. Bekken filed for divorce a week ago. The couple have four children. Taylor said Joseph Bekken expects the divorce proceedings “to be amicable” and that they would continue to raise their kids together.

Whitaker said Bekken’s wife has cut off contact with him and withdrawn all money from their financial accounts.

Bekken, appearing in court Tuesday wearing orange jail clothing and restraints on his wrists and ankles, agreed to a delay in his preliminary hearing, which had been scheduled for Thursday. It will be held later this month.