An invitation to smoke marijuana turned into a robbery last weekend in Spokane because the suspect feared contracting herpes from a water pipe.

Aziem L. Richardson invited the teens to an apartment at 1119 W. Augusta Ave., to smoke marijuana in celebration of his 19th birthday, which was Saturday.

Richardson left after several minutes and returned with a shotgun and threatened the teens, telling them “I heard your or your girlfriend has herpes and we have been sharing a bong,” according to a search warrant. “If I get herpes, I'm gong to kill you both.”

Richardson, who has two previous felony convictions for robbery as a juvenile, ordered the men to empty their pockets and stole a wallet and cellphones, police said.

Police used a search warrant to retrieve the stolen property from the apartment just after midnight Sunday, as well as a shotgun, bong and shotgun shells.

Richardson remains in jail on $30,000 bond for first-degree robbery.

One year ago today, this blog was born.

It’s been an evolving experiment since then, filled with news and tidbits aimed at giving you, the reader, an informative, entertaining and digestible look at crime and court cases in the Inland Northwest and beyond. 

And it all started with the devil-worshipping sex offender.

Since the inaugural post about Danny Schertz (who has left Spokane) being very upset at the suggestion he wasn’t a true Satanist, this blog has become a hub of history for Spokane crime hounds.

One thing I’m most pleased with is the collection of ‘tags’ that appear at the top of each post.

While their presence at the top of the post instead of the bottom may seem clunky, clicking on the links takes you to every Sirens post ever marked with that tag.

Consistency in tags has given Sirens quite e a collection of easily accessible information.

Popular tags include sex offenders, murder, jury trials and homicide. I encourage you to check out the sentencings tag and the caught on tape tag for looks at how punishment is handed down and at surveillance photos from past - many likely still unsolved - crimes. (Also, I decided yesterday on a new tag: Neck tattoos.)

Above all, I want to hear from you.

What are your favorite features and what do you think I should do more or less of?

Suggestions on the timing of posts are invited, too. Just in the last week or so I’ve started post-dating entries at the end of the day so that they show up early in the morning, when more people are looking at the website. It seems to be increasing traffic.

I’ve also started integrating a few links to past stories throughout posts instead of listing them all at the bottom.

Feel free to comment on this post or email me at meghannc@spokesman.com. If you swear or say something truly offensive on the blog it will get deleted, so use the email for those comments.