REXBURG, Idaho Prosecutors say they have tape recorded what amounts to a confession by conservative Idaho state Sen. Rex Furness that he fondled his adopted granddaughter.
As they prepared for today's preliminary hearing on the sexual battery charges against the four-term Rigby lawmaker, Madison County prosecutors said Furness made the admission to a state attorney general's office investigator.
In addition, they say Furness also admitted paying the girl after one fondling incident.
Their claim was made during a probable cause hearing held by Madison County Magistrate Mark Rammell hours before Furness was charged on May 15. The hearing is not mentioned in the court file but was taped recorded.
Today's preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence to require Furness to stand trial on the felony charge. He has been free on bond since he was charged with fondling the girl on several occasions between July 1995 and April.
In the tape of the probable cause hearing, Prosecutor Sid Brown outlined the criminal investigation conducted by the state attorney general's office, which reviewed the case before Madison County filed charges.
Brown said that investigation found that Furness fondled his granddaughter on April 17.
On April 18, Brown said, the granddaughter contacted the attorney general's office to make a statement against Furness. After she was interviewed by investigators, she called Furness to ask him to stop touching her. In that conversation, taped by the state's investigator, Furness indicated he would stop, Brown said.
The state's investigator then interviewed Furness at the Jefferson County Courthouse on April 19. During that taped interview, Brown said, Furness confessed to touching his granddaughter and paying her.
Brown has declined comment. Furness attorney Blair Grover could not be reached for comment, and Furness has refused to comment on the case.
