Idaho State Police awards dispatchers for helping solve case that turned out to be false

The Idaho State Police announced Monday that it has awarded two dispatchers with its Distinguished Achievement Award after they helped piece together information that led to the arrest of a kidnapping suspect last June.

The news release states that dispatchers Thomas Conrad and Jamielyn Rupe “played a critical role in the safe recovery of a victim and arrest of a kidnapping suspect in Lewis County.”

But there’s a minor problem. No kidnapping occurred, according to court records.

The case that was the cornerstone of the award was dismissed in August after it was determined “the alleged victim made inconsistent and false allegations against the defendant,” Idaho County Prosecutor Kirk MacGregor wrote in court records.

Idaho State Police officials did not immediately return a phone call seeking to explain why they presented an award for a case that was determined by its own detective’s investigation to have been false.

According to the Monday news release, Conrad and Rupe, who work as regional communications officers better known as dispatchers, started working the case on June 16 after law enforcement was made aware of a young woman who went into a business in Kamiah and “indicated she needed help and stated that she was not safe.”

Those details match the probable cause affidavit for the second-degree kidnapping arrest of a 41-year-old Kamiah man.

Records state that the female victim, who was from Oregon, alerted a clerk at Cloninger’s Marketplace, at 508 Third St. in Kamiah, that something was wrong. She passed the clerk a note with her phone number and a plea for help.

“However, the woman left the location before law enforcement arrived, leaving behind only limited identifying information,” according to the ISP news release. “With no confirmed direction of travel and minimal information available, locating her would be difficult.”

Conrad and Rupe then began working the case.

“Through careful review of available information and law enforcement resources, Conrad and Rupe connected key details that ultimately led officers to the suspect and victim at a residence in Kamiah,” according to the release.

A day after the woman passed the note, the Idaho State Police SWAT team executed a warrant at a trailer in Lewis County, Idaho, where the woman claimed to have been held against her will.

“During the response, investigators spoke with the victim, and she was able to free herself and escape immediate danger,” the news release from Monday states. “SWAT later took the suspect into custody, and he was charged with kidnapping.”

In the release, ISP Trooper Cale Welling highlighted the importance of the actions by Conrad and Rupe.

“What they did was simply outstanding. They are force multipliers, enabling troopers on the road to do their jobs effectively,” Welling wrote. “Without their work, the victim would have remained in serious danger.”

According to court records, the victim apparently was in no danger at all.

Two months after the incident, the entire case was dismissed at the request of MacGregor, the Idaho county prosecutor.

He wrote that he had worked “diligently with Idaho State Police Detective Hugh Powell to obtain further evidence, including evidence obtained from a search warrant regarding the above-titled case,” court records state. “Most of said evidence was exculpatory in nature. In fact, it appears from said evidence that the defendant is innocent of any criminal wrongdoing.”

MacGregor sought to dismiss the case after the alleged victim made “inconsistent and false allegations against the defendant,” MacGregor wrote. “Further, the alleged victim has been uncooperative and extremely difficult to work with regarding the above-entitled case.”

Idaho District Court Judge Adam Green agreed and dismissed the case without prejudice.

Efforts to reach the man falsely accused of kidnapping were not immediately successful on Monday.