Original source: Jail Roster of the Latah County Sheriff’s Office.

On December 19, 2014, Steven Sitler was arrested for failing a polygraph. The arrest warrant states he “Failed to cooperate with polygraph × 2” (the screenshot says, “Bench Warrant Drug Court,” which appears to be a mistake). The question involved pornography (his wife was six-months pregnant with his son). A search of his computer discovered nothing. Thus his probation officer:

Additionally, it was discovered after Detective Shields’ initial analysis that he (Detective Shields) had made mistakes in the analysis which had led us to conclude there was child pornography on Mr. Sitler’s computer when in fact, after a more comprehensive evaluation by another computer forensic person, turned out to be untrue. (Blaine Holman)

Mr. Sitler’s criminal defense attorney reiterated this point:

In December 2014 Mr. Sitler failed two polygraphs. However, after a lengthy search process by IDOC no pornography was found on Mr. Sitler’s computers. (Dean Wullenwaber)

However, this failed polygraph became the first evident crack in the dam. Seven months later the dam broke when Steven Sitler began failing polygraphs in succession and with each follow-up polygraph test he surrendered new information:

And what is still troublesome is Mr. Sitler has yet to successfully complete a polygraph examination, which suggests that there is something out there that has not yet been disclosed — and we don’t know what that might be. Because it seems that every step we make, since we started this past summer, there’s been a little bit of disclosure and then a failure. And a little bit more of a disclosure, and a little bit more of a disclosure — and if Your Honor looks at where we are now with what we know, not from polygraph results but we know from Mr. Sitler’s own disclosures — from his own lips — and where we were just a month and a half ago, they don’t even compare. (Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson @30:00)

Steven Sitler’s disclosures reached the frozen limit when he admitted the he “engaged in physical contact with his child that has resulted in sexual stimulation on his part”:

We have a record for this court to show that Mr. Sitler has engaged in physical contact with his child that has resulted in sexual stimulation on his part. That that that was disclosed to his wife and not reported to Valley Treatment Specialties. It apparently was disclosed to Dr. Wilson although we don’t know exactly what Dr. Wilson understood to have been disclosed, because Your Honor will remember when we were meeting last month on this, the disclosure we were dealing with at that point was merely a physical contact that resulted in a thought. We now have disclosure that says there was physical contact that resulted in actual sexual stimulation — with his own child. (Bill Thompson @24:23)

Steven Sitler’s videotaped confession was cause of action for the Idaho Department of Correction to ban from living at his home and from having contact with his son. Judge Stegner affirmed the IDOC.