Man pleads not guilty in Kootenai County drugging, rape case

Michael T. Moore pleaded not guilty in Kootenai County court on Wednesday in a case that accuses him of drugging and raping multiple women in unincorporated Kootenai County nearly a decade ago. He remains jailed on $1 million bail as the felony case moves toward an October jury trial.

Moore, 62, faces two counts of rape, two counts of delivery of a controlled substance and battery with intent to commit a serious felony. Investigators said the allegations stem from 2017, when reporting parties responded to social-media advertisements for work opportunities at Moore’s property near Coeur d’Alene. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said the victims alleged they were drugged and sexually assaulted.

The case took a more unusual turn when Moore left for the Philippines during the investigation before charges were filed. The sheriff’s office said the U.S. Marshals Service helped coordinate with the Philippine government to locate and arrest him. After his arrest overseas, Moore was deported to the United States, arrested by U.S. Marshals and booked into the Kootenai County Jail on May 10, 2026.

He was bound over to district court in May after a two-day preliminary hearing, putting the case on a slower path through the court system before Wednesday’s plea. The next major step is the fall trial, where prosecutors will present the case stemming from the 2017 allegations and the defense will have its first full opportunity to contest the charges before a jury.

The long gap between the alleged crimes and the courtroom appearance underscores how sexual-assault investigations can stretch across years, especially when a suspect is believed to have left the country. It also shows the reach of local, federal and international law-enforcement coordination in a case that crossed county lines, national borders and the ordinary pace of a district court docket.

The case comes as North Idaho counties reported an increase in sexual-assault reports in 2024, with advocates, law enforcement and prosecutors working to keep up with the rise in cases. In Kootenai County, Moore’s prosecution now moves from the plea stage to the evidence-heavy stretch before trial, where the timeline from 2017 to 2026 will be central to the jury’s view of the allegations.