Man charged after allegedly harassing family

By SEABORN LARSON

Daily Inter Lake

A Libby man accused of tormenting a woman and her family is facing six years imprisonment after allegedly harassing the woman for eight hours and slashing her tires.

Kenneth Dean Jaynes, 54, of Libby, was charged last month with two counts of violating privacy in communications, his second and third offense. If convicted he faces a maximum six years imprisonment and up to $11,000 in fines. Jaynes is currently out of jail on $10,000 bail.

On Nov. 18, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Brent Faulkner responded to a report made by a woman who said Jaynes had harassed her and her family over the phone for about eight hours and slashed her tires the day before, stemming from a fight between them earlier that day.

The woman said she had been a friend of Jaynes’ for the past three months, but it was never an intimate relationship. On Nov. 17, Jaynes allegedly returned from a trip to Spokane and immediately got into an argument with the woman, according to court documents.

Later that night, after Jaynes left, he allegedly began calling the woman at her home, leaving a torrent of messages threatening her, her daughter and her son. The night consisted of 40 phone calls and 15 voicemails between 8:44 p.m. and 5:07 a.m. the following morning, according to the deputy’s report. In the messages included in the report, the man threatened the woman with sexual assault and called her daughter a derogatory name. He also reportedly threatened to call the woman’s son’s employer in an attempt to have his job terminated, and made threats to the woman not specified in the report.

Faulkner recorded each message and noted the caller ID, showing when Jaynes had called the woman. According to court documents, Jaynes quit calling between around 12 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., when another law enforcement officer reported seeing Jaynes driving around.

In addition to the barrage, the woman showed Faulkner that her tires had been stabbed flat. She believed that Jaynes had slashed her tires, which Faulkner reported would cost about $640 to replace.

Faulkner reported that Jaynes’ criminal history turned up a “consistent past tendency to harass, threaten and intimidate others,” including past retraining order violations and privacy in communications violations.

Jaynes’ preliminary hearing has been set for Dec. 7 at 1:30 p.m. in Lincoln County Justice Court.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.