CdA trucker pleads guilty to molesting seven boys

A Coeur d’Alene long-haul truck driver pleaded guilty Wednesday to molesting seven boys between the ages of 8 and 14.

Kevin Gerard Sloniker faces a prison term of up to seven consecutive life sentences when he is sentenced July 13.

He accepted a plea deal in a hearing before 1st District Judge Cynthia Meyer. Sloniker, 30, answered “guilty” as Meyer read each of the seven counts. He then described his “hand to genital” contact with each of the victims.

Sloniker met and befriended boys in his role as a youth camp counselor at Immaculate Conception Church in Post Falls, according to investigators. The church is part of the Society of Saint Pius X, a traditionalist group with no canonical standing in the Roman Catholic Church.

One boy said he attended the church’s Immaculate Conception Academy, and that Sloniker was involved with a group of boys who attended the K-12 school in Post Falls. Sloniker also taught boys how to be altar boys through the Guild of St. Stephen, an international organization of altar servers, investigators learned.

Witnesses told investigators Sloniker liked to spend time with kids much younger than him and would buy them lavish gifts. One boy told a detective Sloniker took him on a long trip in his truck through seven states and sexually assaulted him repeatedly during the journey.

Some parents told police they knew of or strongly suspected the abuse and advised others to keep their kids away from Sloniker. In some cases Sloniker lived for a time with the families of his alleged victims.

The charges stem from investigations by the Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls police departments. Sloniker was arrested on a warrant Sept. 14 in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and extradited to Kootenai County, where he was booked into jail Oct. 9.

In a police interview, Sloniker said he wanted help for an addiction to touching young boys, a police detective said in court filings.

In exchange for the guilty plea, the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office agreed not to pursue other charges, including production of child pornography charges for photos Sloniker allegedly made of two of the boys.