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A federal judge Friday granted a request by the attorney for former Spokane Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. to interview a government expert witness who claims that federal prosecutors mischaracterized his expected testimony.
The move further delays the sentencing of Thompson, who was convicted Nov. 3 of using excessive force and lying to cover up his actions during the March 18, 2006, confrontation with Otto Zehm, who died two days later.
A Deer Park man accused of strangling his ex-wife and posing her dead body had her death certificate di
splayed in his home when detectives arrested him this week, detectives say.
Clay Duane Starbuck, 47, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder and sexually violating human remains in the death of Chanin Denice Starbuck, 42. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. The only other punishment if convicted of aggravated first-degree murder is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Starbuck, a former Alaska oil worker with no criminal history, appeared in Spokane County Superior Court Friday afternoon via video from the jail after prosecutors formally charged him Thursday. He remains in jail on $1 million bond.
Read the rest of my story here.
A Spokane man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend's new beau turned himself into police Thursday.
Ezra Lawerence Bedeski, 35, faces a first-degree assault charge for the stabbing Tuesday about 9 p.m. outside the Walgreens at 2105 E. Wellesley Ave.
The victim, Jared Reichenberg, 26, needed 13 stitches for a large cut on his neck. Reichenberg said he was going to Walgreens to pick up his girlfriend when he saw Bedeski yelling at her.
Reichenberg told him to leave her alone, and Bedeski “bum rushed him,” according to court documents. There is a restraining order between Bedeski and the woman, according to court documents.
Police attempted to track Bedeski with a police dog Tuesday night but were unsuccessful.
Bedeski was booked into jail Thursday after showing up at the Public Safety Building and requesting a lawyer. He remains in jail on $20,000 bond after appearing today in Spokane County Superior Court.
A group of traveling prostitutes suspected of settling in Spokane told police they were making good money here because the local competition is so ugly.
One woman is in custody and other arrests are possible as part of an ongoing investigation into a 36-year-old California man who investigators believe has been brokering sex deals while living out of motels in Portland, Seattle and Spokane. Two motel rooms in Spokane were searched this week.
A Spokane man dubbed “the bad-tooth bandit” for a robbery spree more than 17 years ago was arrested Thursday after fleeing a traffic stop, officials say.
Aaron Wayne Coats, 48, (pictured left in 2009 and below in 1994) was arrested minutes after a police chase ended in north Spokane when a sheriff's deputy spotted his vehicle at an apartment complex at 6800 block of North Atlantic Street.
Deputy Clay Hilton had tried to stop Coats for running a stop sign at Atlantic and West Lyons Avenue when Coats sped away, according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.
Hilton pursued Coats to the area of Lyons Street and Division Street before ending the chase for safety reasons.
Minutes later, Deputy Michael McNees located Coats' vehicle at the apartment complex. Two passengers, Ronald Clement, 31, and Angelica Myers, 20, were arrested on warrants.
A Spokane police dog was called in after officer learning Coats had locked himself in a closet.
Coats surrendered after the K-9 officer announced his presence. He was arrested on charges of attempting to elude police, first-degree driving while suspended, obstructing and violation of a no contact order. Another passenger, Lori Peterson, had a no contact order against Coats. Peterson told police Coats fled because he knew he was violating that order and driving on a suspended license, according to court documents.
Coats was sentenced in 1995 to 20 years in prison for an 
armed robbery spree that terrorized Spokane store clerks. Coats said he commited the 31 holdups to feed his heroin habit. He also made headlines when he attacked a bailiff in court. He'd been dubbed the bad-tooth bandit because of witness reports that the robber had a mouthful of crooked, decayed or missing teeth.
Coats was released from prison in November 2009, according to the Washington Department of Corrections. He complete probation last May.
Past coverage:
Nov. 23, 1994: Suspect grins, denies he's 'bad-tooth bandit'
A woman who escaped federal custody last month was assisted by another inmate at the Spokane County Jail, prosecutors allege.
Andrea Nicole Falsetta, alias Hartnett, 37, is accused of helping Sandra Irene Duffy arrange to be helped by Barbara F. Haight, 61, after Duffy (pictured) walked away from a doctor's appointment at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center 
Jan. 10.
Duffy, 47, had been in custody on a federal drug charge. Falsetta, who has been jailed since August, helped Duffy contact Haight and arrange the escape, prosecutors allege.
Duffy was arrested at a home in north Spokane Jan. 14.
A grand jury indicted her Tuesday on an escape charge, which carries a maximum five year sin prison. Falsetta and Haight were indicted for aiding and assaulting escape, which also carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Duffy was missing for two days in July 2008 after she leaped about 20 feet from a bridge into a river to avoid Wenatchee police. Police arrested her at her home about 23 miles from the bridge two days later on methamphetamine charges. She was sentenced to two years in federal prison and a year of probation.
Duffy was arrested again last summer as one of more than 20 people indicted in a federal investigation into widespread cocaine and meth distribution in Eastern Washington.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Remember the pig hidden within the decal on the doors of some Vermont State Police cruisers?
There's now a movement under way to keep it there.
But it turns out there was more wrong with that image than just the white pig hidden as a splotch on the cow, made to resemble one of Vermont's ubiquitous Holsteins. State law requires that the cow in the crest be red — not red and white — as a tribute to the hardy Devon cattle first brought to Vermont by English settlers.
“What I would really like is for the governor to just leave the pigs on the car. That's the bottom line, at no expense to anybody,” said Barre musician Cid Sinclair, who created the Facebook page “Save the Vermont Pigs.” The site has been liked by more than 500 people. Two hundred people have signed an online petition, he said.
“No harm, no foul, take it as an opportunity to have some fun,” Sinclair said. “We live in pretty bleak times and it's pretty rough. We have an opportunity to laugh together as one, as Vermonters.”
The pigs in the 16-inch decal were first noticed last week by a state police trooper who was washing his car. The crest is believed to have been altered by a Vermont prison inmate who made the image several years ago. The pigs, a derogatory term for police, are on about 30 cruisers.
The Department of Corrections said last week that new decals would be made at a cost of $780. But state police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said Thursday that so far none of the offending decals had been removed.
She said officials had been made aware of the state law that requires the cow in the crest to be red but had been told it was OK to use the existing emblem.
“We value our emblem and what it represents for our state and our agency and we want to be in compliance,” Dasaro said.
MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. (AP) — A father who was upset after a Tennessee couple deleted his adult daughter as a friend on Facebook has been charged in the shooting deaths of 
the couple, authorities said Wednesday.
Potter, 60, (pictured left) has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder last week's slayings of Billy Payne Jr. and his girlfriend, Billie Jean Hayworth. The couple was shot to death in their Mountain City home in the far northeast corner of the state. Their 8-month-old baby was found unharmed in Hayworth's arms.
“It's a senseless thing,” the sheriff said.
Authorities have been involved other cases where Potter's daughter, Jenelle Potter, believed she had been slighted by someone.
Marvin Potter's friend, Jamie Curd, has also been charged in the 
killings. Curd, 38, (pictured right) had romantic feelings for Jenelle Potter, 30, the sheriff said.
Potter and Curd were arraigned Wednesday. Potter asked for time to hire an attorney while Curd was assigned a public defender who did not immediately return a phone message.
Assistant District Attorney General Matthew Roark said Curd's initial bond was raised to $1.5 million while Roark agreed to put off a bond hearing for Potter until next week, when he is expected to have an attorney. Potter remains jailed on his initial $200,000 bond.
The victims lived with Billy Payne Sr., who was the last person to see them alive. He told detectives he saw Hayworth get up to feed the baby before he left for work at about 5:30 a.m. on Jan. 31.
The slayings were discovered about five hours later when a former neighbor stopped by to pick up mail the family would save for him.
The younger Payne was found in his bedroom, and Hayworth was found in the baby's room.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A spat over forgetting to wish his wife a happy birthday landed a South Florida man in jail on domestic violence charges.
When Judge Jay Hurley heard the circumstances that brought 47-year-old Joseph Bray to bond court Tuesday, he issued a unique ruling.
Hurley ordered Bray to buy a birthday card and flowers for his wife before taking her to dinner at Red Lobster and bowling afterward. Hurley ruled the couple should begin seeing a marriage counselor immediately.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports Hurley felt this was a “better resolution” since the incident was minor and Bray had no prior arrests. Bray's wife told the judge she's not afraid of her husband.
A police report indicates Bray pushed his wife during an argument but never hit her.
Federal agents have arrested an unlicensed bounty hunter whose alleged apprehension techniques led to felony charges and a criminal investigation against a Spokane police officer.
Dennis Kariores, 42, was taken into custody today in Pensacola, Fla., on a $150,000 warrant for first-degree burglary, unlawful imprisonment and second-degree kidnapping, according to the U.S. Marshals.
The federal Gulf Coast Regional Task Force arrested Kariores after agents here learned he'd fled to Navarre, a small city just outside Pensacola.
Kariores called The Spokesman-Review Wednesday and said he planned to turn himself in.
Spokane police Officer Alan Edwards was suspended for two weeks for arranging a ruse with Kariores that involved using a fugitive to help them gain access to a home they were otherwise not legally authorized to enter. (Other law enforcement officers have admitted to working closely with Kariores. Read much more here.)
Kariores has been a fugitive since Aug. 30, when he was charged for allegedly unlawfully detaining suspects while acting as an unlicensed bounty hunter.
According to court documents, Kariores and licensed bond agents John P. McCormick, 43, and Eric W. Houchin, 40, unlawfully stayed inside a home in the 1100 block of North Nelson Street in February 2010 and grabbed a woman while trying to contact her husband for failing to uphold his bond agreement with All City Bail Bonds. The woman was not wanted by police, which meant the bondsmen had no authority to detain her.
The men are charged with first-degree burglary and unlawful imprisonment for the incident.
Charles E. Dasenbrock, 26, is charged with second-degree kidnapping, along with Kariores, for an Aug. 26, 2010, incident in which the men detained a fugitive at a home in Spokane Valley and transported him to Spokane, where Edwards arrested him. Prosecutors say neither had the authority to apprehend and transport the man against his will. McCormick, Houchin and Dasenbrock have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
Kariores said he was only doing as the police told him.
Kariores, a convicted felon, applied for a recovery agent license with the state of Washington in March 2009 but was rejected.
In his application, he said he’s worked with police in Spokane County and North Idaho and has arrested more than 500 people in six years. “I am known as the guy to go to when they can’t find people, whether it be in Washington or out,” Kariores wrote.
Convicted bank swindler John Earl Petersen is pictured in 1997. (S-R archives)
A convicted bank swindler who boldly walked out of a Spokane courtroom three years ago to avoid arrest is headed to federal prison. 
John Earl Petersen, the key figure in the collapse of a Montana bank more than a decade ago, was sentenced this morning to 27 months for stealing nearly $170,000 from a brother and sister in 2006 after telling them they would receive $100 million in return.
Petersen was convicted of wire fraud and tax evasion, the latest for an admitted con man and frequent Las Vegas gambler who had a business office in Spokane when he was arrested in 1998, accused of masterminding the $10.5 million collapse of Montana Bank of Whitefish, Mont.
Petersen, 61, admitted to bribing bank officials to allow him to cash phony checks. He served five years in prison after turning in co-conspiring bank officials. He was sent back in 2008 after investigators alleged he was misusing his 95-year-old aunt’s money.
At his parole revocation hearing in 2008, federal prosecutors said Petersen used more than $400,000 of her money for personal use, including a lavish home remodel.
Petersen was arrested on the new federal indictment just as he was to be released from SeaTac federal prison on Dec. 8, 2010.
He also is charged in Spokane County Superior Court with nine counts of felony theft for the alleged scheme against his aunt. Spokane County prosecutors were waiting for Petersen to resolve his federal case, which he did today after pleading guilty last May.
In addition to 27 months in prison, Petersen is to be on probation for three years and pay $167,794.94 restitution.
Petersen shocked federal authorities in December 2007 when he walked out of U.S. District Court in Spokane after reviewing paperwork indicating he would be taken into custody at the hearing.
He sped away in his Cadillac and was arrested five months later in Boulder, Colo., with a blond wig and books about changing identity.
Past coverage:
Feb. 1, 1998: Agent paints Petersen as loan-sharking mobster
A Spokane woman forced her way into a man's home and shocked him with a Taser over a $150 heroin debt early Wednesday, police say.
Faith M. Lee, 39, was arrested on a first-degree burglary charge with Roger Larry Blair, 53, after a resident at 2922 W. Hartson Ave., Micah W. Kaluzny, said they shoved their way into his apartment. Lee shocked Kaluzny with a Taser and stole his cellphone.
Spokane police saw red marks on Kaluzny's stomach that were consistent with a Taser.
Officers located Lee and Blair at an apartment at 2232 E. 1st Ave. Police found a scale and heroin in the apartment, as well as Kaluzny's cell phone. Blair, who was wanted on a felony warrant, told police he accompanied Lee to collect a drug debt and “act as muscle” to make sure she didn't get hurt, according to court documents.
Both suspects remain in jail after appearing in Superior Court Wednesday afternoon. Blair also faces a drug possession charge.
A driver involved in a one-car crash that engulfed his vehicle in flames allegedly bragged to a nurse about the incident, police say.
William C. Calamanco, 25, “was in a boisterous state and explained to the nurse that he was 'driving really, really, really fast,'” Officer Aaron Kirby said in court documents filed Wednesday. Kirby said he overheard Calamanco talking to the nurse after a blood draw at Deaconess Medical Center.
Kirby already suspected Calamanco of vehicular assault. He'd contacted him in the 2800 block of West Summit Boulevard in West Central about 10:05 p.m. Sunday after a car crashed into a tree and burst into flames. Calamanco and his brother and passenger, Eric Calamanco, suffered minor injuries.
Calamanco denied driving but then said he'd hit his head on the steering wheel, according to court documents. Police said he smelled of alcohol. Kirby found burnt beer cans in the car after the fire was extinguished.
Calamanco remains in jail on felony charges of vehicular assault and making a false statement.
The discovery of 24 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop in Oregon led police to arrest a suspected distributor in Spokane this week.
The investigation began when Kevin C. McKeag, 28, of Chattaroy, was arrested near Roseburg, Ore., Feb. 2 after a drug dog detected marijuana in his 2003 Dodge pickup during a stop on Interstate 5 about 5 p.m., according to the Oregon State Police.
Troopers found the marijuana in a hidden compartment in the truck. McKeag said he was traveling to Spokane to deliver the pot, according to police.
McKeag was transported to the Spokane office of the Drug Enforcement Administration after agreeing to cooperate with law enforcement. He told them he'd been transporting marijuana to Spokane from California for the past year to sell 12 or more pounds at a time to Jeremy Scott Thornton, according to court documents.
The Spokane Regional Drug Task Force arranged for McKeag to sell marijuana to Thornton, 35, in a monitored transaction on Feb. 3. Detectives then searched Thornton's home at 2509 E. Diamond Ave. Feb. 6 and arrested him on drug charges.
Thornton, a self-employed landscaper and avid disc golfer, left the Spokane County Jail Monday on $10,000 bond.
A Spokane man accused of stealing from his grandfather by forging his checks is wanted by Crime Stoppers. 
Bryan Henry Morales, 32, was to begin trial this week on a leading organized crime charge for allegedly directing men to cash the forged checks, which cost his grandfather, John Camacho, more than $7,000, according to court documents. He also faces separate charges of forgery and delivery of a controlled substance
Morales never showed up for a pre-trial hearing, and a $10,000 warrant for his arrest was issued Jan. 31.
Crime Stoppers on Wednesday offered a reward for tips that lead to his arrest.
Tod Michael Ives, 49, is charged with nine counts of second-degree identity theft for allegedly cashing the checks. Thomas D. Plante, 28, faces 10 counts.
Morales, 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, last gave an address in the 1200 block of South Rotchford Drive in the Spokane Valley.
Anyone with information Morales' location is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or submit tips online.
Former Spokane police Detective Jeff Harvey filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the department that fired him last year, seeking back pay and damages for emotional, physical and mental “injuries” to be determined at trial.
Harvey’s attorney, Bob Dunn – who recently won a $722,000 jury award and $833,000 in attorney’s fees in similar case involving Office Jay Mehring – pointed the finger at former police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick.
Spokane Valley police are trying to identify two men who stole tools from the East Valley School Distinct. 
Surveillance photos released today show one of the thieves in the maintenance yard in the 18000 block of East Euclid Avenue on Jan. 27.
Police say the thieves entered a fenced area and stole about $300 worth of tools.
Anyone with information on a suspect is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.
A Western Washington man who sold large amounts of methamphetamine to people in Idaho will spend about 11 years in prison under a sentence imposed today in Coeur d'Alene.
Jason Paul Patrick, 33, of Federal Way, admitted to selling meth to Idahoans who traveled to Western Washington about twice a week between August 2010 and June 2011.
His public defender, John McEntire, described him as a longtime drug addict whose criminal history began in 1997 and “spiraled into a multi-year pattern of possessing methamphetamine.”
Patrick attended a drug treatment program while incarcerated at Coyote Ridge Corrections Cneter, but he needs more help, McEntire wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
McEntire said Patrick was shocked by the length of federal prison sentences.
“Gone are the days of 18-month sentences and getting out in half that time,” McEntire wrote. “These are the big leagues….Simply put, Mr. Patrick feels this guideline range. And now, for the first time, the punishment outweighs the risk. It is time for Mr. Patrick to stop.”
Patrick was sentenced this morning to 140 months in federal prison and 10 years of probation.
“Methamphetamine trafficking is a threat to the health and safety of Idaho's communities,” U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson said in a prepared statement.. “With our law enforcement partners, we are committed to addressing this threat through aggressive investigations, strong prosecutions and stiff sentences. Mr. Patrick's conduct was well deserving of his lengthy prison sentence.”
A decision Tuesday by appellate judges most likely ended all legal recourse for a man convicted of killing his 19-year-old employee in a brutal slaying that will forever haunt a Ferry County man who witnessed it and barely escaped with his own life.
The Division III Court of Appeals denied an argument by Cory J. Monaghan, 38, of Maple Valley, Wash., that he was not guilty by reason of insanity of first-degree murder for killing Jeremy Karavias and first-degree arson for setting fire to his uncle’s Malo, Wash., home in 2008.
“He killed and butchered that kid,” Ron Wessel said of his nephew, Monaghan. Karavias “was just an innocent kid. I think about it every day.”
Read the rest of Tom Clouse's story here.
Past coverage:
A man targeted by Crime Stoppers missed his court appearing last week because he's jailed in another county, and officials refuse to transport him. 
Mark William Bush, 35, is in the Benton County Jail under the Washington Department Corrections warrant for violating his probation.
He was there on Jan. 24 when he was scheduled to appear in Spokane County Superior Court for an arraignment on a felony marijuana possession charge.
When he didn't show up, a judge issued a warrant for his arrest for missing court.
State prison officials say that's not unusual - it's standard not to transport inmates to court until they've address their DOC violations, which spokeswoman Selena Davis said Bush has yet to do.
“This is absolutely par for the course,” Davis said.
What's not par for the course is Crime Stoppers targeting fugitives who are already in custody.
Bush's father, Leonard Bush, is quick to say his son - who has at least four felony and 23 misdemeanor convictions - has done wrong. But he also questions why the criminal justice system seems only to contribute to his son's legal troubles.
“When they have you in custody, shouldn't they notify the court that you are in jail?” he said.
Leonard Bush was with his son when he appeared in court Jan. 10 for an arraignment. His son thought he had a warrant out for his arrest and tried to run himself in, but no one would take him, Bush said.
The next day, Spokane police released a K-9 in pursuit of Mark Bush. They arrested him and described him to media as a prolific criminal with 167 criminal charges.
His father said some of those arrests stem from his son being incarcerated in another county and unable to make court, which leads to an arrest warrant. That's the current situation with the Crime Stoppers fugitive reward.
“Don't get me wrong here - he's done wrong,” Leonard Bush said. “it's just the procedure that I can't understand…But people out there don't understand. All they see is 'caught a fugitive. 160 arrests.'”
Police said they had no idea Bush was in court a day before they tracked him down and arrested him.
Bush still is listed on the Crime Stoppers website and the Benton County Jail roster.
Tipsters can collect $100 - twice the usual amount - if they alert police to his location because he's a repeat offender. No word on whether jail employees will be eligible.
Reporter Meghann Cuniff writes about public safety news from the Inland Northwest and beyond.
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