Woman accused of jail calls to teen sex crime victim

A 41-year-old woman accused last week of inappropriate sexual conduct with a 15-year-old male via Facebook was back in front of a judge Monday facing an additional charge in the case.

Kathi Linn Pederson was charged with attempted witness tampering for calling the boy’s home at about 3 a.m. Friday, less than 24 hours after her first court appearance.

Court documents say Pederson called the boy’s home at least twice from the detention center booking phone. The report says his parents reported the calls, which are recorded. The document also notes surveillance cameras captured Pederson making calls at times corresponding with the family’s complaints.

The report says the defendant attempted to attribute the calls to her teenaged daughter, which documents say she also did regarding the alleged sexually explicit messages to the boy last week. Pederson was arrested as the result a law enforcement arranged after the teen’s family reported the messages to the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office.

The charging document says a Homeland Security agent assumed the boy’s identity on Facebook, with his parents’ permission, and continued to communicate with Pederson. The document says Pederson indicated she was concerned she was being set up, but arranged a meeting with the boy anyway and promised to bring condoms.

The charging information says Pederson initially tried to blame the messages on her daughter, who knows the boy, but she eventually admitted to sending the messages and arranging the meeting. She also said she knew the boy was only 14 or 15 years old, according to documents.

The charging document says the presiding judge ordered Pederson have no contact with the boy or his family when setting bail Thursday during her first court appearance.

Public defender Melissa Edwards challenged the probable cause showing for the charge in court Monday. She explained that while a call to the boy’s home would be a violation of a court order, the no-contact order is a bail condition and Pederson had not posted the $50,000 bond set last week. Edwards also said simply making a call to a victim or witness does not constitute attempted evidence tampering as there was no mention of any elements of coercion in the charging document.

District Judge Dirk Sandefur agreed with Edwards and released the new charge, but noted that the report showed that Pederson could be charged with violating a court order. He reiterated that the original charges of sexual abuse of children and evidence tampering still stand, as does the $50,000 bail amount.