Lewiston man charged with 10 felonies for allegedly contacting minor online

A 34-year-old Lewiston man is being held on a $1 million bond for seven counts of child sexual abuse and three counts of enticing children over the internet. 

Michael B. Hendren was charged with 10 felonies in alleged incidents that happened between May 1 and May 31 when he allegedly solicited a 17-year-old girl, 16-year-old 15-year-old girl and four 14-year-old girls to participate in a sexual act. The case involving a 17-year-old was also with Hendren being five years or older than the victim. Those incidents resulted in seven sexual battery charges, according to court documents. 

The enticing a child through the internet charge alleges that Hendren from July 1, 2022, to Aug. 31, 2022, solicited a 14-year-old girl to participate in a sexual act; from May 1 to May 31 sent a 14-year-old girl sexually exploitative material as well as solicited her to participate in a sexual act and in the same time period solicited a 13-year-old girl to participate in a sexual act and send sexually exploitative material, according to court documents.   

According to the probable cause affidavit, an investigator with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado contacted the Lewiston Police Department about an investigation into Michael Hendren on social media application, Kik, where investigators posed as teenage girls. On May 16, investigators impersonated a 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl with a user who was reportedly 30-years-old and later identified as Hendren through his IP address. Hendren allegedly sent messages with nude photos and video, requested nude photos, asked about meeting in person and about their sexual history. Hendren also allegedly sent photos of his tattoos, which later were compared to those on his other social media accounts, according to the affidavit. 

Investigators later discovered that Hendren deleted the account but contacted him allegedly through another teen persona. This made investigators believe he was using multiple accounts to contact multiple minors and then deleting the account to not be identified. After a search warrant from Kik, investigators also found 399 photos and videos sent by the account to other users. Investigators also allegedly found written communication with 14-17-year-old users all over the country involving chats of a sexual nature and nude photos, according to the affidavit. 

Idaho investigators took over June 12. That investigation showed alleged chats between Hendren and seven other users separate from the four undercover personas used in the investigation until that point. All the users were reportedly under the age of 18 and the conversations were sexual in nature and alleged statements that he would be visiting the area soon and wanted to meet in person, according to the affidavit. 

A search of Hendren was also done in the FBI database that showed Hendren was part of a child exploitation investigation in Montana in 2022. Where he allegedly contacted an uncovered account in the FBI task force that was claiming to be a 14-year-old girl with sexual conversation and images, which was traced to the same IP address in the current investigation. That conversation also included a conversation to meet up to have sex. That case wasn’t prosecuted because there wasn’t an act of travel, according to the affidavit. 

A federal search warrant was granted Thursday for Hendren’s home, vehicle and person and the warrant was executed Friday at his Lewiston home. A search of Hendren’s web history showed user names matching the ones on the social media app. The Kik app was shown to have been installed but then deleted, according to the affidavit. 

Hendren was taken to the police department and investigators asked him about his internet history but he told police there wasn’t anything significant. He then asked for a lawyer, according to the affidavit. Hendren was then charged with the felonies.

The maximum penalty for the sexual battery charges is 25 years each as well as a $50,000 fine. The maximum penalty for the enticing charge is 15 years each as well as a $5,000 fine. 

Hendren made his initial appearance Monday before Magistrate Judge Sunil Ramalingam by Zoom at the Nez Perce County Courthouse. 

While the Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office noted that Hendren didn’t have a criminal history there were concerns about his appearing in court because of the significant charges as well as a danger to the community for contacting young girls and soliciting them online. 

Ramalingam agreed that although there wasn’t a criminal history the allegations showed a danger to the community and he set bond to $1 million as requested by the state. 

If Hendren makes bond he is not to have contact with anyone under 18 and have no internet access. 

Rick Cuddihy was appointed as public defender and Hendren’s next court date is Aug. 12. 

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.