Dogs Track Down Burglary Suspects

Police canine units tracked two burglary suspects early Monday to a Greenacres home, where they were arrested in connection with a burglary five blocks away.

Donald R. Plumley, 35, and Jesse L. Jennen, 35, both of 16025 E. Fourth, were arrested at their home and booked into Spokane City-County Jail on second-degree burglary charges.

Late Sunday, the owner of a lawn and garden business was picking up tools at a storage shed near 200 S. Conklin when he discovered several pieces of equipment had been stacked by the door - as if somebody planned to return for them.

He called a business associate, and they waited together inside the shed for the burglars to return. Sheriff’s Department spokesman Dave Reagan said deputies were called after two men showed up just before midnight on Sunday.

When the business owner and his companion confronted the two men, they fled on bicycles. Reagan said police dogs followed their scent directly to the home on Fourth, where they were identified by the burglary victim and arrested.

Plumley was also wanted on an outstanding felony warrant for possession of a controlled substance. Jennen was also wanted on an outstanding warrant for driving with a suspended license.

After surveying his remaining equipment, the business owner said he was missing an air compressor, a battery charger, a set of cutting torch tips, a kerosene tube heater, and a 160,000-watt space heater. The missing items, worth about $1,200, have not been recovered.

Woman charged after attempt at auto theft from dealer

Deputies arrested a 24-year-old woman early Sunday after the attempted theft of a car from a Valley auto dealer’s lot.

A customer at a restaurant across the street from Spokane Hyundai, 7103 E. Sprague, called police after watching a woman attempt to drive a car off the sales lot, Reagan said. When deputies responded, the witness told them that the woman who had attempted to steal the car was in the restaurant using the phone.

Deputies arrested Michelle Blair, who said her address was 413 S. Greene.

Deputies said Blair told them she had been stranded in the Valley by friends and wanted a way to get home. She said she had found the keys inside the car at the Hyundai dealer. A second set of car keys from the dealership was recovered from Blair’s pockets when she was booked into jail.

The auto dealership’s owner, Joe Arrotta, said 12 cars have been stolen from Spokane Hyundai during the last two years.

“We’ve had a real problem with it,” he said. “The thing that kills you is the insurance rate. After the other thefts, ours has jumped considerably.”

In the weekend incident, a chain gate prevented the car from leaving the lot, he said. The gate isn’t always such an effective deterrent.

“We’ve had to replace it three times in the last year,” Arrotta said. “The only way they can get a car off the lot is to crash through it.”

Drugs found, driver arrested

An Idaho man was pulled over early Monday after deputies spotted his pickup truck heading northbound in the southbound lanes of Argonne Road, just north of Sprague.

The driver initially gave deputies a false name and said he had forgotten his Idaho driver’s license at home. However, a check by the deputy revealed no record of a license being issued to anyone with such a name.

After placing the driver in his patrol car, the deputy searched the pickup, and found several plastic baggies that he believed contained marijuana and rock methamphetamine.

After the drugs were discovered, the driver, 31-year-old Mark A. Potter, of Pend Oreille, admitted his true name. A subsequent records check revealed that Potter’s license was suspended.

He was booked into jail on possession of methamphetamine.