Coeur d'Alene police are asking for help identifying thieves who broke into storage units on North Atlas Road last month.

Employees at Coeur d'Alene Place Self Storage, 5850 N. Atlas Road., reported April 28 that several locks had been cut from storage units throughout the complex, police said today.

Survellance video shows three men in hooded sweatshirts and dark clothing walk through the proprety just before midnight. The men walked around until 4:30 a.m. and appear to cut locks with a bolt cutter on several occassions, according to police.

Employees beleive the thieves cut a chain link fence to acess the building. They discovered several RVs that had been damaged and burglarized.

A surveillence image of two of the thieves was released today.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Coeur d’Alene Police Department at (208) 769-2320.

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for tips that lead them to five vehicles stolen from Kootenai County car dealerships in the past two months.

A reward also is available for tips on the people who stole them.

According to Coeur d'Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood:

A 1999 white Jeep Wrangler sport 2-door with a black roof has been missing since March 16.

A 2001 blue Dodge Durango was stolen between April 14 and April 17.

A 1996 blue Chevrolet 1500 extended cab truck was stolen between April 28 and April 30.

A 2004 GMC Sierra 2500 crew cab, duramax, 4-door truck was stolen between April 28 and May 2.

Finally, a 1995 white Dodge Ram 3500, 2-door, flatbed truck was stolen between May 1 and May 2.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or submit tips online. Tipsters do not have to give their names to receive a reward but should leave a code name or number.

Police in Coeur d'Alene are investigating the theft of a large fiberglass cow statue from outside an antique store.

Jeffrey Gagnon, who owns Paris Flea Market at 1815 N. 4th St., has a broken piece of the cow's tail that can be used to positively identify the statue, Officer Bruce Reed noted in his report.

Gagnon said the red and white statue, which was made in the 1940s, was secured with chains that were bolted to the ground but had been cut. The theft occurred between 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday, Gagnon told police.

Gagnon said the statue was worth about $2,300. He obtained it about two years ago and said it'd be easy for someone to carry it away because it only weights about 70 pounds.

Anyone with information on the theft should call the Coeur d'Alene Police Department at (208) 769-2320.
  

A Coeur d'Alene man who choked a woman unconscious and caused her severe head injuries is to spend at least eight years in prison.

John Joseph Marr, 57, said he walked in on his victim choking herself when they contacted him at his home last Sept. 25 in response to a domestic violence report, according to the Kootenai County Prosecutor's Office.

The victim was bleeding under her eyes and had bruising on her lip and jaw. Marr first told Ceour d'Alene police officers the injuries occurred as he was trying to restrain the victim, but he later said in court that he walked in on the victim trying to strangle herself, officials say.

Judge John Mitchell sentenced Marr Thursday to 10 years in prison with eligibility for parole after eight years.

Mitchell cited the unbelievability of Mar's story and the need to protect the public from someone with little chance of rehabilitation, the prosecutor's office said.

Marr has four previous felony convictions for making terrorist threats, felon in possession of a firearm, domestic battery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh praised the work of the Coeur d'Alene Police Department and of deputy prosecutor Donna Gardner in a prepared statement.

“The long sentence imposed by Judge Mitchell is justified by the nature of this crime and Marr's history of victimization of similar women. Mr. Marr's failure to accept responsibility is troubling,” McHugh said. “The long fixed sentence will prevent similar incidents for at least eight years, and we hope that Mr. Marr will be deterred from similar conduct in the future.”

 Coeur d'Alene police are asking for help identifying men believed to be responsible for thefts at local gymnasiums.

At least two gyms have reported at least four thefts since March 20 in which thieves walk into the gyms and help themselves to keys and wallets in the men's locker rooms, according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

They use the keys to prowl vehicles in the parking lot.

Surveillance video released today from 360 Fitness, 410 W. Neider Ave., on March 20 shows one of the suspected thieves.

Photos from video at Safeway in Liberty lake show two men believed to be connected to the use of a credit card stolen from Peak Fitness on April 16.

The men are driving a dark-colored compact car.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Coeur d'Alene Police Department at (208) 769-2320.

Police said a Coeur d'Alene woman was arrested with methamphetamine inside her vaginal cavity this morning, but they later said the woman only said meth was located there, and none was found.

 Detectives with the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force located Christine R. Davis-Jasinki, 35, at the Coeur d'Alene Casino and searched her home at 114 Borah Ave. in Coeur d'Alene about 5:30 a.m. today, where they found a surveillence system and other drugs.

Davis-Jasinki was booked into jail for drug charges for meth and drug paraphernalia found in the home. A SWAT team used an armored vehicle to approach the home.

Police used the extreme measures because of “information about several weapons inside the residence as well as four pit bull dogs,” according to a news release by Coeur d'Alene police Sgt. Christie Wood.

A SWAT member used a dog snare to control  “a large, vicious pit bull,” but the other dogs were cooperative and none were injured, Wood said. The dogs were seized by animal control officers.

Police found what they described as a sophisticated video surveillance inside the home that monitored the street and included audio capabilities and a view of the home's entrance. They also found a large amount of suspected stolen property, including jewelry and power tools. Police are working to identify the owners.

Arrested at the home were Coeur d'Alene residents Chase A. Nutting, 21, on a failure to appear warrant for attempted robbery, and a warrant out of Kitsap County, Wash., and Stevan E. Hemming, 25, on a warrant for violating his probation and parole for aggravated assaulted.

Davis-Jasinki has been booked into the Kootenai County Jail 30 times since 1996, said Major Ben Wolfinger.

Related coverage:

July 21, 2011: Woman with $26,000 in bra pleads guilty

March 25, 2011: Pa. cavity search produces 50 bags of heroin

Sept. 17, 2010: Police get search warrant for man's rectum
  

A child molestation suspect who has been missing since escaping a manhunt in North Idaho in December was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles.

Nathaniel Robert Howell, 32, was booked into jail in Los Angeles County about 3:52 p.m. Thursday, according to online records.

Howell had been wanted on a felony warrant in Kootenai County charging him with four counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and five counts of sexual exploitation.

Coeur d'Alene police notified the public about his fugitive status after he ran from police through the woods in the 1500 block of South Sagle Road last December.

Howell had seen police while visiting relatives nearby. He's now awaiting extradition to North Idaho from California.

COEUR D’ALENE (AP) — A North Idaho prosecutor says an investigation shows Coeur d’Alene police acted appropriately when they arrested a man who lost consciousness and later died.

 The Coeur d’Alene Press reports that a forensic pathologist found Nicholas Andrew Clason stopped breathing because of methamphetamine toxicity, and that after he was resuscitated he died of a lack of oxygen to the brain.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh investigated the death and said those findings showed that the Spokane man didn’t die because of the way police restrained him.

Police arrested Clason last July after they got a report of a suicidal man who was trying to stab himself on Interstate 90. During the arrest, officers realized Clason had stopped breathing and began CPR. He died four days later.

Past coverage:

July 14: Man dies in police custody in Coeur d'Alene

A 41-year-old Coeur d'Alene man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly raping a 16-year-old boy.

Sonny Novero Coley was booked into the Kootenai County Jail on charges of rape, sexual battery and sexual exploitation of a child.

Detectives received a report Tuesday that detailing Coley's alleged contact with the boy, police said Wednesday. They interviewed Coley at the police station and arrested him about 8:30 p.m.

The alleged victim knew Coley “and spent a lot of time with him,” according to a Coeur d'Alene Police Department news release.

Police did not release further details.

A North Idaho man who killed himself during a police chase was allegedly trying to persuade his wife to drop charges against him.

Daniel Joe Zehm, 52, contacted his wife Sondra Zehm on Saturday at their Dalton Gardens home, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.

Police were alerted at 10:15 p.m. that Zehm had called a relative and reported that he was taking his wife to Kellogg, Idaho.

Zehm sprayed his wife with pepper spray and forced her into his vehicle., officials say. He had been driving with her since about 9 p.m, telling Sondra to drop the charges against him, officials say.

Zehm saw the deputies trying to stop him on Fernan Lake Road about 11:15 p.m. He fled toward Coeur d’Alene, running over a spike strip as he reached Fernan Village. He attempted to continue but came to a stop on Sherman Avenue, where he shot himself, police say.

Zehm was arrested in November after pouring gasoline on his wife and trying to light her on fire. He had been released from jail on $200,000 bond for felony charges of burglary and aggravated battery and was prohibited from contacting his wife.

A child molestation suspect who escaped a manhunt in the Sagle, Idaho, area Tuesday is wanted by Coeur d'Alene police.

Nathaniel R. Howell, 32, ran from police through the woods in the 1500 block of South Sagle Road about 3 p.m. after he saw the officers while visiting relatives nearby.

Howell is charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and five counts of sexual exploitation.

Howell is 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds with hazel eyes and blonde hair. Anyone with information on his location is asked to call Coeur d'Alene police at (208) 769-2320.

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information that leads to the arrest of a man who tried to rob a Goodwill employee in Coeur d'Alene last month but was thwarted by a witness with a gun.

The man attacked the woman with a knife after she left the store at 1212 N. 4th St. Nov. 28 about 1:55 p.m. to make a bank deposit. The victim told police the man held a knife to her throat and demanded her purse before they struggled and he shoved her to the ground.

A citizen working nearby stopped he attack by pointing a gun at the man, Coeur d'Alene police said today.

The man fled empty handed. He was last seen in the area of 11th Street and Foster Avenue, where he jumped over a fence and continued southbound, police say.

He's described as in his 30s, 6-foot to 6-foot-2 wearing blue jeans and a  black hoodie with possible silver writing on it and the hood pulled over his head.

Anyone with information on the man's identity is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or submit tips online. Tipsters do not have to leave their name to collect a reward but should leave a code name or number.

Missing: One 1967 Ford Mustang.

The classic car was stolen from a Coeur d'Alene auto shop this month, and police are asking for help finding those responsible.

Will Sando, owner of Silverlake Automotive, discovered the trailer containing the car was missing Dec. 12 at 7:30 a.m. It was last seen Dec. 11 at 3 p.m., police said today.

An outdoor shed also was burgled and a set of tires and rims were missing. The business is located at 274 W Hanley Ave.

Anyone with information is asked to call Coeur d'Alene police at (208) 769-2320.

  Coeur d'Alene police are trying to identify a woman suspected of stealing Botox treatments from a dermatology office.

The woman had $1,705 worth of Botox and Juvederm procedures done on Dec. 6 at North Idaho Dermatology, 2288 North Merrit Creek Loop. She began writing a check to pay but said her checkbook wouldn't work and she needed to get another one, but she never returned, police say.

The woman made the appointment using the name Louise Green and provided two addresses in Post Falls. Neither has checked out, police say.

The woman told employees she'd recently moved to the area from Seattle and had a referral note from a doctor in Pocatello.

Police released two surveillence photots of the woman today in hopes someone will recognize her and come forward.

Anyone with information on her identity is asked to call (208) 769-2320.

 A vandal caught on tape in Coeur d'Alene is now the target of a Crime Stoppers reward.

Surveillance video shows the man grab flowers in large pots in front of a home decor store at 513 E. Sherman Ave., then tug on the flowers until the pots fall over and shatter.

The vandal's female companion is seen laughing at the damages.

Anyone with information on their identities is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or submit tips online.

Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Kootenai County sheriff's deputies and Coeur d'Alene police spent more than eight hours Sunday resolving a standoff with a man who they say was threatening to kill himself in his mother's home.

Law enforcement responded about 5:30 a.m. Sunday to a call at 317 S. Ross Point Road near Post Falls, after learning that Matthew W. Couture, 44, had barricaded himself in his mother's basement with a butcher's knife.

Following an argument with his mother, Couture reportedly threatened to use the knife on himself. Officers negotiated for about six hours with Couture before he agreed to surrender, said Sgt. Matt Street of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department.

Couture has a warrant issued in California for a felony probation violation related to a domestic-violence charge, according to a news release.

No injuries occurred during the standoff, Street said.

A Coeur d'Alene man robbed two men at gunpoint as they were walking to a friends home late Wednesday, police say.

 Jeremiah H. Starr, 34, stole a small amount of cash from Luther Nicholas, 21, and Michael Garitone, 18, of Coeur d'Alene, as they were walking near 12th Street and Coeur d'Alene Avenue about 11 p.m., according to the Coeur d'Alene Police Department.

A man involved in a gang-related shooting at Hoopfest is wanted in North Idaho for felony injury to a child.

Marquis D. Johnson, 23, has a $50,000 warrant for his arrest in Kootenia County for allegedly assaulting a 6-year-old girl in Coeur d'Alene on June 25.

Johnson is accused of throwing a salt-and-pepper shaker at the girl, according to court documents. Further details are pending a week-old records request for a report from the Coeur d'Alene Police Department.

Johnson was given an exceptionally low sentence of six months in jail last fall after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in relation to the shooting at Hoopfest.

Johnson was originally charged with about a dozen counts of attempted murder after gunshots injured two girls and grazed a bystander at the annual basketball tournament in downtown Spokane on June 26.

The triggerman, Miguel C. Garcia, is serving a nine-year prison sentence. Johnson had been released from prison just three weeks earlier after serving three years for a shooting in Spokane that didn't injure anyone.

The warrant in Kootenai County was issued Aug. 5.

Anyone with information on Johnson's location is asked to call the sheriff's department at (208) 446-1300.

Coeur d’Alene police have recovered the stolen $5,000 Santa Cruz mountain bike belonging to former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Coeur d'Alene Police Department photo.

A teenage brother and sister from Coeur d’Alene recovered former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe’s stolen mountain bike.

 The football star’s $5,000 Santa Cruz bike was stolen off his car rack while he was visiting friends with his family in Coeur d’Alene over Labor Day weekend. Now Brandon C. Edgemon, 18, of Coeur d’Alene, (pictured) is in jail on a grand theft charge in the case.

The mystery began unraveling last week.

On Sept. 5, Edgemon rode by a home on the 800 block of North 22nd Street and saw Kelsea Justus, a girl he knew from high school, said her father, Rick Justus. He said Edgemon told the girl that the police were looking for him and he needed a place to store his bike. He asked if he could leave it at her house. She said no, but then she watched him hide the bike behind the house across the street, Rick Justus said, relaying the story told to him by his children.

Read the rest of Alison Bogg's story here.

Past coverage:

Sept. 8: Football star's $5,000 bike stolen in CdA

A former Kootenai County deputy clerk accused of embezzling $139,000 over 10 years pleaded guilty Friday to a single count of grand theft.

Sandra Martinson, 62, retired in November from her career with the county, which spanned more than three decades. The embezzlement is alleged to have occurred for 10 years, ending in October.

Martinson is to receive a suspended prison sentence and will serve supervised probation.

Read the rest of Alison Boggs' story here.

Past coverage:

Jan. 15: Police: Clerk's bad checks were easy to spot