Eleven Arrested For Burglary, Drugs

Authorities wrapped up a burglary case and a yearlong investigation of a suspected drug house this week with the arrest of 11 people.

Bonner County detectives rounded up four suspects Thursday who allegedly broke into a summer home on Lake Pend Oreille. Police said the suspects returned to the vacant house several times, taking everything but the furniture.

Charles E. Miller, 25, and Lori D. Finley, 31, both of Sagle, and Michael Wensel, 20, and Louis Kidney Jr., 18, both of Sandpoint, were being held in the Bonner County Jail on burglary charges.

Later Thursday night, the Bonner County Drug Task Force, deputies and city officers raided a home on North Boyer Avenue.

Authorities suspected the home was a storage area for stolen property and that the residents were dealing drugs.

Officers surrounded the house and smashed in the door with a battering ram. They arrested five people inside, confiscated seven handguns, two of them stolen, heroin, a half-pound of marijuana and $1,800 in cash.

Two of those arrested, Alberto Mora-Marin, 22, and Jose Luis-Torres, 24, are illegal aliens from Mexico and face deportation.

Also arrested were Nicole A. Duke, 27; Shannon R. Chase, 30; and Michael D. Ratcliff, 21.

Two other men, Jose Antonio Torres, 28, and Ricardo Salcedo-Salas, 22, left the house before the raid. They were arrested a short time later while driving along Boyer Avenue. Salcedo-Salas was also discovered to be an illegal alien from Mexico.

Those arrested in the raid appeared in court Friday to face charges ranging from possession of stolen property and frequenting a known drug house, to possession and distribution of illegal drugs.

, DataTimes