Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Records: Man touched grandchildren
ALMIRA — A local man will be evaluated to see if he is fit to stand trial in a child rape and molestation case.
Kenneth E. Burda, 72, is charged with first-degree child molestation, fourth-degree child molestation and two counts of first-degree rape of a child.
A status conference last week in his case has been continued until 10:30 a.m. Dec. 17, records show. Burda will be evaluated for competency, with records showing he may have dementia.
Arrested Nov. 18, he is being held in the Lincoln County Jail on $150,000 bail.
Burda is accused of inappropriately touching two of his granddaughters at his 6 S. Fifth St. house.
The case came to light September 9 when a mother of a 3-year-old girl contacted authorities to report the toddler had been inappropriately touched and licked by her grandfather, records show, noting the grandfather also had the girl watch pornography with him.
A Sept. 20 interview with the toddler prompted authorities to investigate further, records show. And a second-granddaughter, now 14, came forward to report that Burda had sexually touched her, too, when she was 6-8 years old.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
Reader Comments(0)