Gewarges back in court for sexual abuse of a minor

A Pocatello woman is charged with four counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Two counts are for having sexual contact with a minor under 16. The other two counts are for soliciting a minor under 16 for a sexual act.

Julie Gewarges is a former employee of MK Place, a substance abuse treatment center for teens in Pocatello. While working at MK Place, Gewarges was accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl.

On Wednesday Gewarges was back in court for the third time.

An underage male from MK Place claims Gewarges kissed him and put his hand on her breast and under her skirt. He said this happened in a van on the way back from the fireworks on July 4, 2015.

Initial charges on lewd and lascivious conduct were filed in September 2015. But in Oct., the witness failed to show up for a preliminary hearing and the case was dismissed.

Bannock County prosecutors re-filed charges in Feb. 2016. At Gewarges’ next hearing on Apr. 11, the case was again dismissed.

“There was basically a mis-charging,” said Zachary Parris, deputy prosecutor for Bannock County. “It was charged under the wrong statute. The facts didn’t support the lewd and lascivious conduct charge and so we dismissed it in the interest of justice because it just didn’t fit the code.”

The case was dismissed, but not finished. In June, the prosecution filed charges against Gewarges for a third time. Parris said this time there was a new charge and a new victim.

“I sent some detectives to do some more investigating, to interview some additional witnesses,” Parris said. “And it was discovered that there was some allegations that had been made by an additional witness and so that was the basis for the new charge.”

The second victim, a female, claims Gewarges had shown her “sexually explicit” phone messages. She said Gewarges was often flirtatious with her and expressed a desire to be with her.

Both the male and female teens claimed Gewarges also tried to initiate a three-way between them.

In court Wednesday, both juveniles testified about what happened and maintained that Gewarges had made sexual advances toward them.

This time in court, the judge said the evidence showed a public offense had occurred and that there was probable cause Gewarges may have committed the crime. He also felt the state met its burden of proof in the case. So the judge bound the case over to district court.

The defense argued to reduce the charges to two, one count sexual abuse and one count solicitation. The defense argued that the incidents were the same and did not justify separate charges. The judge bound over all four charges to the district court to decide on.

Parris said if Gewarges is found guilty, or pleads guilty, she could face up to 25 years in prison. But Parris said that’s not likely and the state will not push for that length of a sentence. If guilty, Gewarges would also have to register as a sex offender.

No district court date has been set for Gewarges at this time.