Transient Arrested After 10-Year-Old Girls Assaulted

Police arrested a transient last week for allegedly groping two 10-year-old girls near Witter Pool.

Police said a 42-year-old transient was sitting with two other men in what police call “a temporary hobo encampment” along Freya Avenue near the Spokane River when the girls walked by.

Police said the man pulled the two girls toward a blanket and tried to kiss them.

Another man also in the encampment protested and argued with the man who had grabbed the girls, then hit him, according to police reports. While the two men fought, the girls ran to Witter Pool and told an employee about the incident.

Police arrested the man, based on the girls’ story. He was booked on two counts of attempted kidnapping, but formal charges were not filed because of insufficient evidence and the man was released.

The girls wandered from the pool to the encampment because they were curious, said police spokesman Dick Cottam.

“That was a thing that could have gotten really ugly,” said Cottam.

Traffic stop leads to arrest

A simple traffic stop in Hillyard turned into triple trouble for a pair of twins.

A sheriff’s deputy pulled over a Chevrolet Monte Carlo for a traffic violation around midnight last Wednesday. When the deputy checked the car’s registration, he found the license plates were registered to a Buick Regal.

The driver, Jesse Jacobs, 34, was cited for switching plates, driving with a suspended license and driving without insurance.

The deputy checked identification of two female passengers, and found Jacobs’ twin sister, Lorraine, had an outstanding bench warrant.

When the deputy checked her purse, he found methamphetamine, according the sheriff’s spokesman David Wiyrick. She remained in custody Tuesday for a felony drug charge.

, DataTimes