Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies believe a man working on his paintball gun triggered lock downs at nine Spokane Valley schools Thursday morning.

A woman told deputies she saw a man carrying a gun and shooting it into the ground near 28th Avenue and Blake Street around 10:45 a.m., according to a Sheriff’s Office news release, but authorties could not locate a suspect.

Several Central Valley School District schools were briefly locked down during the extensive search, the release said.

Later that day, a man called deputies to say he was in the area taking a CO2 cartridge off his paintball gun – an action that creates a loud popping noise. He realized the woman likely heard this sound.

No shots were fired, deputies determined.

Spokane County Sheriff's Office shared surveillance stills of a man suspected of robbing a Spokane Valley head shop. | Photo: Spokane County Sheriff's Office

Spokane County Sheriff's Office needs help identifiying a man suspected of stealing a pack of Captain Kratom Thai powder from a Spokane Valley Puffin Glass store on April 11, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

The suspect asked to see the product, described as an organic pain reliever by an Puffin Glass employee, but he ran out of the store with the tablets around 7:15 p.m. and didn't pay for them, an employee told authorities.

The employee chased the suspect out of the 12023 E. Sprague store, but the suspect pulled out a knife and threatened him. 

Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. To report a tip, call 1 (800) 222-TIPS or go online to www.crimestoppersinlandnorthwest.org.

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office detectives found several firearms inside a South Hill home where a man shot and killed himself Sunday.

Detectives seized five assault rifles and four hand guns from the 4500 block of East Sumac Drive where 62-year-old Warren C. Schrempp, Jr. was growing marijuana at a foreclosed home, according to recently filed court documents.

Detectives cataloged three of the weapons as loaded including an AK-47-style rifle, a Glock and Makarov pistol. They also found four adult marijuana plants and 10 starter plants. Schrempp had authorization to grow medical marijuana, court documents show.

Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office called Schrempp’s death a suicide. A real estate agent called police after a locksmith smelled marijuana at the property and saw a car in the garage, they told authorities.

Sheriff’s detectives found a sliding door open and announced their presence, but they heard a muffled gunshot and called a SWAT team, previous reports said.

A confidential informant led Spokane County Sheriff’s Office detectives to a married couple dealing meth out of a Spokane apartment, according to criminal complaint filed in United States District Court Tuesday.

Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives arrested Mark W. Bush (pictured left) and Crystal K. Peterson on the morning of April 4 after serving a search warrant to their apartment at 1717 E. Mallon Avenue.

Court documents describe the informant as a felon with several convictions including theft, burglary, and lying to authorities. The informant was compensated financially for the information leading to the arrest of Bush and Peterson, documents show.

The informant bought meth from Bush three times during the investigation, they told detectives, but Peterson was only present during a deal on one occasion.

Investigators seized 11 ounces of meth from the home during the search including four small bags inside a box of Nilla Wafers. Additional bags of meth were found in the bedroom in a black bag, a dresser drawer and in the kitchen freezer.

Investigators also found a purse under a mattress in the master bedroom with a cell phone and a spiral notebook with a variety of names and phone numbers.

Although the Drug Enforcement Administration was not present at the time of the search warrant last week, a special agent is filing the complaint against Bush and Peterson after Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich pushed for federal charges to give him a longer prison sentence if convicted.

Knezovich compared Bush’s criminal record to convict Eddie Ray Hall who was sentenced to a 16 years in a federal prison last year. Bush is in custody at Spokane County Jail for his 39th arrest in Washington state.

Pursuing federal charges against a repeat offender is a common tactic, Knezovich said, because it can give them a longer prison sentence and keep them off the streets.

Knezovich described this drug ring as localized and the meth was most likely not produced in Spokane.

Related content: Sheriff exasperated with repeat offender

A man wanted by authorities was discovered hiding out at a South Hill apartment complex on Monday night.

Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies were looking for Raymond S. Wheatley, 44, a felony warrant for violating his court order, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release. A deputy learned he was hiding at 2800 E. 27th Avenue and filed an arrest warrant to get him, the news release said.

Authorities also called in the SWAT Team to help serve the arrest warrant around 10 p.m. because of Wheatley’s 22 years of violent history against law enforcement. Deputies arrested Wheatley in 2007 after he grabbed a Spokane Valley police officer’s Taser and tried to use it against him, prior reports said.

The SWAT Team made their presence known and Wheatley reportedly came out on his own. Deputies took him into custody without incident, the release added.

Wheatley was booked into Spokane County Jail for his felony charges of violating a court order.

A Spokane Valley young couple with a license to wed are instead in Spokane County Jail on charges of residential burglary and trafficking of stolen property.

Vyacheslav Znovets, 21, and his girlfriend Marina Florianovich, 25, were arrested by Spokane Valley detectives after they allegedly sold a stolen wedding ring to a north Spokane jewelry store, according to court documents.

The couple has been responsible for several burglaries, detectives said, and they typically use Florianovich’s black BMW to travel during the day and steal jewelry from Spokane Valley homes. They knock to see if anyone is home and then break in through the rear window or door, documents said.

They were named in a series of Spokane Valley burglaries last year, reports said. 

Detectives believe the wedding ring was stolen from a home in the 4100 block of south Terra Verde Drive on the 26th. The homeowner left for the afternoon and returned to find his front door kicked in.

Earlier that day two witnesses said they saw a man acting suspiciously near a BMW with the same license plate as Florianovich’s near 21st Avenue and Timberlane Street. A home was burglarized along the 2100 block of S. Timberlane was also targeted, detectives believed.

When Znovets was arrested he showed detectives which homes he broke into and showed them the house along Terra Verde Drive and along Timberlane. Another home was also pointed out in the same neighborhood by Znovets, detectives said.

The couple was booked into Spokane County Jail on Wednesday and appeared in Spokane County Superior Court on Thursday.

Despite the suspect’s relationship, Judge James Triplet ordered they have no contact with each other.

Florianovich’s charge was reduced to trafficking because court documents do not show probable cause of her being at the scene of the burglaries, Triplet said.

Znovets continues to have the residential burglary charge.

A marriage license with Spokane County only lasts for 63 days and they have about two weeks remaining on their license, according to court records.

Facebook: Spokane Valley Police detectives have posted pictures of recovered jewelry from the couple. If something is yours, go claim it. 

A felon arrested on outstanding warrants threatened a Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy during his ride to jail and told him “the knife’s coming out” next time, according to court documents.

Deputy Nathan Bohanek found William L. Moore loading items onto a trailer behind a business after a caller told 911 they saw suspicious activity near the 1500 block of South Pines Road.

The caller said they saw sparks and hear grinding noises and thought someone was stealing something, documents said.

Bohanek arrested him for two outstanding misdemeanor warrants for third-degree driving with a suspended license and second-degree criminal trespassing.

Moore began screaming at Bohanek and calling him names during the drive to Spokane County Jail, documents said.

He told Bohanek, “You want to ruin my life? You’re going to have to kill me next time,” documents said.

Moore also said, “Next time we meet, mother f-, the knife’s coming out!”

The deputy interpreted Moore’s words to be a threat against his safety, documents said.

Moore was booked into Spokane County jail and appeared in Spokane County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon. Judge James Triplet placed a $10,000 bond on his charges of intimidating a public servant.

Moore was described by investigators as “confrontational” after he was arrested by deputies in 2010 during a traffic stop after they found more than 70 feet of aluminum and copper wire in his car, reports said. They also found gloves, flashlights, saws and tools in his vehicle.

He told police to “shoot him”, according to 2010 search warrant on his car.

Deputies arrested him during another incident in 2001, reports said, after he hid his alleged meth stash in a gas station bathroom.

Several Spokane Police officers and Sheriff’s deputies have been awarded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for protecting the community from a bomb planted by Kevin W. Harpham during the MLK Unity March in 2011.

(Pictured from left to right in front row: Lt. Matt Lyons, Cpl. Mark Fox and Sgt. Jason Hartman. Lt. Eric Olsen was absent from the award ceremony due to training, according to police spokeswoman Monique Cotton. Photo courtesy: SPD)

The bomb did not detonate because Harpham’s remote triggering device could not get close enough to the device. The bomb was laced with rat poison and placed on the northeast corner of Main Avenue and Washington Street, reports said.

Spokane Police Sgt. Jason Hartman and Lt. Eric Olsen were awarded Thursday afternoon for moving the march route, an act that’s believed to have saved several lives. 

Court documents show three contract workers discovered the bomb as Harpham walked in the march. Police changed the route before he could walk in range of the device - losing his opportunity to detonate the bomb.

Cpl. Mark Fox and Lt. Matt Lyons with the Spokane County Sheriff’s were also awarded by the FBI for their work with the bomb squad disarming Harpham’s device.

Harpham was arrested in March near his rural home near Addy. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison in Dec. 2011. 

Related documents: MLK bomb maker gets 32 years in prison | Parade change averted blast

A Spokane Valley pursuit ended Wednesday night when a man crashed an allegedly stolen car into a tree near Valleyway Avenue and Walnut Road.

The driver, identified as Justin D. Martin, 29, was originally sought by a Washington State Patrol trooper who spotted Martin’s vehicle around 10:41 p.m. with a broken headlight at the Argonne Road exit along Interstate 90.

The trooper chased him all the way to Alki Avenue and Bowdish Road where he called off the chase, but a Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy found him to continue the chase.

Martin swerved the vehicle head on into a deputy’s patrol car, but the deputy avoided the collision. Martin continued his flight from authorities by speeding about 50 mph, according to Spokane County Sheriff’s spokesman Craig Chamberlin, through a residential neighborhood along Valleyway Avenue.

Martin reportedly crashed the car at Walnut Road into two large trees. Spokane Valley Fire Department had to extricate him from the vehicle. Medics transported himto a local hospital with serious injuries, a broken leg and arm, Chamberlin said. He remains detained and investigators are waiting on blood results for possible THC intoxication.

Martin faces charges of attempted first degree assault for attempting to ram a police car, eluding deputies and possession of a stolen vehicle.

The vehicle allegedly belonged to Martin’s mother. She was purchasing the vehicle from a family friend, but was not the registered owner.

A fight outside a Chattaroy bar led to a man being stabbed multiple times and was found unconscious and bleeding on the ground by responding Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies. The victim, now identified as Orlan Knuth, is in satisfactory condition at Sacred Heart Medical Center, according to staff.

Deputies arrested two suspects who left the scene, but came back. Brian D. Reinhart, 25, faces first degree assault charges as does Dwayne W. Hackley, 42, and appeared in court Thursday afternoon.

Reinhart allegedly stabbed Knuth in the torso and thigh with a Gerber knife after an altercation in the parking lot of Prime Tyme, located at 4211 E. Westwood, according to a court affidavit. Reinhart claimed he stabbed the victim in self defense, documents said.

Knuth allegedly spun a chain in his hand and a knife in the other, according to court documents. Detectives picked up several items from the crime scene as evidence including a knife, chain, hat and cell phone.

Reinhart was transported to the hospital for a single stab wound to his arm before his interview at the Public Safety Building along with Hackley.

Judge Annette Plese placed Reinhart’s bond at $10,000, but according to staff at Spokane County Jail, he bonded out Thursday night. Hackley remains in custody with a $30,000 bond.

A man tried to hide from police after an argument with possible gunfire erupted at a north Spokane County home Tuesday afternoon, but a Spokane County Sheriff’s K-9 dog found him hiding in a hole under a tree.

Anthony Young, 38, had four active felony warrants out of Stevens County, according to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release, and reportedly ran into the woods before deputies could arrive to the home at the 37000 block of North Newport Highway, a woman told police.

Jet, the K-9 dog, followed tracks in the snow for one mile from the property and found Young hiding, the news release said. Jet could smell him through a pile of snow, sticks and pine needles Young used to hide himself with.

The other parties of the argument had left the property as well. Deputies saw them driving away earlier and stopped the car with two men inside.

Deputies were advised that the passengers were involved with the argument and they checked the vehicle and found a .22 caliber revolver with the serial number ground off inside a backpack.

The driver, identified as William Talbert, 24, told deputies the gun belonged to someone else and he was arrested for felony firearm possession, altering the serial number and driving with a revoked license.

Young was arrested for the felony warrants which included burglary, taking a motor vehicle without permission, theft and possession of stolen property.

Deputies were unable to confirm if a shooting took place.

Police attempted to pull over a reckless driver near Park and Trent late Tuesday night, but lost it after the driver ignored a stop light at the Havana Street and Mission Avenue intersection, according to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release.

A car with a similar description was found reportedly on fire in a homeowner’s driveway near 200 N. Bessie, said the news release. Deputies confirmed it was the same car and fire crews responded to put out the fully engulfed car.

The fire was declared not arson, according to Spokane Valley Fire investigators, but it may have started somewhere in the engine compartment, they told police.

Police don’t know at this time who the driver was or if the vehicle was stolen. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

A felon wanted on multiple Idaho warrants hid in the trunk of a car during a traffic stop hoping to hide from police last week.

Sheriff’s deputies say they saw 27-year-old Justin R. Brown get into a car as a passenger just after midnight on Friday and knew North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force was looking for Brown in the area of Third Avenue and Freya Street, said a news release.

A multi-agency response brought officers from Spokane Police along to pull over the vehicle near Sprague Avenue and Havana Street.

But Brown was missing from the vehicle when they looked inside and it was determined he had crawled into the trunk of the modern Chevy Impala through the back seat prior to the stop. Police believe Brown was holding the trunk closed because the trunk switch did not work.

Brown eventually got out of the trunk after several audible orders were given by police including the warning that they’d use a Spokane Police K-9 unit to get him out.

Deputies took Brown into custody on felony fugitive charges and he was extradited to Kootenai County Jail where he faces multiple offenses with over $160,000 in bail.

Police say the victim of a recent burglary eyed a suspicious man prowling around a neighbor’s home in Spokane Valley last week.

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies searched the 11200 block of east Aloha Court on Friday afternoon for the alleged suspect but were unable to find him until another neighbor saw the suspect in his backyard, said a news release.

Deputy Walker ran to the home’s backyard and saw the suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Michael G. Mendez, jump a fence.

More deputies responded to the neighborhood and Mendez was located within minutes.

The news release said Mendez had been hiding in the home next door while deputies checked out the original location of the prowling call.

Witnesses told police Mendez hid property under the deck of a home as he ran to hide from police. Deputies recovered that property and believe it is stolen goods.

Mendez was booked into Spokane County Jail for felony residential burglary, three misdemeanor charges for criminal trespass and obstruction of an officer.

He’s to be arraigned next week with a $75,000 bail on his charges.

A reportedly intoxicated man assaulted a Spokane Valley Fire paramedic on Monday evening while crews treated a woman for a seizure.

While the Station 1 paramedic in full uniform and his partner treated the patient, 51-year-old William J. Nachtwey became hostile toward the paramedic and grabbed him by the shirt collar demanding they leave the trailer in the 9500 block of east 4th Avenue.

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office say the paramedic pushed Nachtwey over a coffee table. When he got up, he confronted them with a boxing stance.

The paramedic and his partner left the trailer while Spokane County sheriff’s deputies were called to the scene. According to a news release, before Nachtwey was arrested for 3rd degree assault, he tripped over a garbage can outside the trailer.

The firefighter was not injured during the confrontation. The woman was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for further treatment.

Nachtwey was not injured when he fell over the coffee table or garbage can.

The Sheriff's Office is warning of a surge in vehicle prowling in the Greenacres area of east Spokane County.

Nearly 24 prowlings have been reported to Crime Check since Monday. They've occurred mostly between Barker Road and Harvard Road, and north of Sprague Avenue to the Spokane River.

Many victims left their car doors unlocked or their windows rolled down, according to a news release. Some of the cars also contained electronics, purses, wallets and other valuables in plain sight.

Most cars were prowled during the late evening.

The Sheriff's Office reminds people not to leave valuables in their cars and to report suspicious activity to Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

Spokane Police Department launched a “remove it or lose it” campaign last month that aims to help citizens prevent car prowlings. Read more here.

A Spokane County sheriff's car driven by Deputy Rustin Olson in a crash sits in the Sheriff's Office parking lot on Aug. 8. (SRPhoto/Jesse Tinsley)

Two teens have been arrested for placing wood and rocks on Pines Road that led to a patrol car crash just after midnight  Aug. 3 in Spokane Valley.

The 16-year-old boys scattered two-foot-long pieces of firewood, tree branches and a plastic bin filled with large rocks across the road before several deputies responded to an unrelated fight call down the street at South Pines Elementary.

Read the rest of Justin Runquist's story here.

Past coverage:Ap

Aug. 6: Deputy injured responding to hoax report

Detectives search murder suspect Daniel Arteaga's home at 19329 E. Valleyway Ave., in Spokane Valley on Tuesday. (SRPhoto/Meghann Cuniff)

Detectives found a newspaper containing murder victim Kim Schmidt's obituary when they searched the truck of her suspected killer recently.

Daniel R. Arteaga, 40, had the obituary in his GMC truck, along with .45 caliber handgun in a fanny back, cartridges and magazines, DVDs and a notebook and earrings.

Detectives seized those items Aug. 7 after Arteaga was arrested for first-degree murder. They also seized nearly 100 items from his home at 19329 E. Valleyway in Spokane Valley.

Among the times found at Arteaga's home were notebooks and at least 29 firearms, including shotguns, rifles and pistols. Arteaga has a concealed weapons permit.

He remains in jail on $1 million bond for first-degree murder. He's accused of killing Schmidt, who was found dead of a gunshot wound to her head at her home in north Spokane on Jan. 1.

Arteaga has been married for about 22 years and told detectives his wife of 22 years didn't know he'd been having an affair with Schmidt for about 6 1/2 years.

Detectives believe Schmidt's desire to end their relationship and the money he owed her may have been a factor in her murder. Schmidt and Arteaga also were named in two lawsuits, and Schmidt had told Arteaga she was romantically involved with another man.

A man's decision to move to the back seat of a car as he drunkenly argued with his brother may have saved his life early Sunday, police said today.

Spokane County sheriff's Deputy Jeff Thurman doesn't believe the man would have survived the crash into a large steel pole at South Schaffer Road and South Dishman Mica Road had he been in the front passenger seat, which is where the impact occurred.

Instead the man received only minor injuries, as did his brother, Stephen Stebbins, 18.

Stebbins was driving southbound on Dishman Mica when he crossed over into the northbound lanes and soon collided with the pole.

Stebbins was pulling the steering wheel back and forth prior to the crash, which caused the vehicle to slide sideways into the pole.

Stebbins was arrested for DUI Unconscious and taken to a local hospital for a blood draw. He was released to hospital custody, and charges will be forwarded to prosecutors once blood results are back.