Bonner County man charged after visit to Myrtle Creek

May 26, 2023

By Mike Weland

Clifford Endicott

A 73-year-old Ponderay man who brought a neighbor, at her suggestion, on a drive north to visit Myrtle Creek Wednesday is now sitting in the Boundary County Jail on charges that could, if he's convicted, land him in prison for up to five years. According to court records, at about 2:49 p.m. May 24 a call went out of a kidnapping in the area of the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge, drawing a heavy emergency response by the Boundary County Sheriff's Office, Bonners Ferry Police, Boundary Ambulance and North Bench Fire.

A deputy who reached the woman, on the road where she was allegedly pushed out of a red 2005 Chevy Silverado after she tried to get away from an assault, found her with passers by who stopped to help, hysterical.

As officers and deputies were responding, dispatchers were able to get a vehicle description and direction of travel from the distraught woman, and another deputy conducted a felony stop on a red Silverado driven by Clifford Dale Endicott on Riverside Road near the Boundary County Waterways building.

As he was being detained, he asked, "what did I do?" While Endicott insisted he'd done nothing and resisted being both detained and being questioned, medics were called in to treat bleeding scratches on his arm, resembling those that could be inflicted by fingernails.

Meanwhile, medics were treating his alleged victim on a road in the refuge east of where Endicott had been stopped and deputies gleaned from her claims that she had been pushed out of the vehicle after an altercation and threatened she'd be run over. Her cell phone, which she said Endicott had taken from her as she tried to call 911, was allegedly thrown at her. As he pulled away, she said he only narrowly missed running over her.

She was taken to Boundry Community Hospital while Endicott was taken to the Boundary County Jail.

"If (she) said he did, she’s lying to me," the affidavit reads. "Endicott then began talking about religion. Endicott told me he had a number seven on each hand, indicating Jesus had picked him out to witness to people for Him. I asked Endicott if he had anything else to add. Endicott replied, 'no I’m good' and asked me to get him out."

Instead, Endicott was charged with aggravated assault, a felony, and false imprisonment, battery and destruction of a telecommunications advice, all misdemeanors.

He asked if his alleged victim was being charged for scratching him. She wasn't. Instead, she said later, she was concerned Endicott might be suffering dementia, and had planned to take him to a doctor on Thursday.