Authorities Pass Buck On Robbery Victim

Think you’ve got it bad?

Meet a man who was robbed at gunpoint in his own home. Twice in one night.

K.C. Haight, 41, complains that he’s being held up again, this time by the law. The north Spokane resident is spitting nails at a county prosecutor who won’t return Haight’s stolen cash because he says he needs it for evidence.

“Why can’t he just take pictures of the bills and copy down serial numbers?” says Haight, who figures the bandits clipped him for 800 bucks and change.

The out-of-work cabinet maker says he needs the money. Part of it will cover his insurance deductible so he can fix the front door the robbers broke down.

This guy is a fire hydrant living in a dog’s world.

His hard-luck tale began about 9:30 p.m. last Aug. 10.

According to court documents, Haight was asleep. A brother, a friend and Haight’s 4-year-old son, Cody, were in the front room when two strangers barged in through the unlocked front door.

One thug carried a handgun. The other creep wielded a hatchet.

The two men made threats and warned everybody not to move. Hatchet Man searched for items to steal. Pistol Pete went back for Haight, who had been awakened by the rumpus.

“I open the door,” recalls Haight, “and there’s this gun in my face.”

The bandit pushed Haight on the bed. He clubbed him on the head with a wrench grabbed out of Haight’s own toolbox. He took more than $300 he found in Haight’s wallet and a drawer.

The intruders left with the money, a mountain bike, some CDs, a couple of rings and little Cody’s portable stereo.

Police filled out the usual forms, took pictures and left. Nursing a goose egg-sized lump on his head, Haight locked the doors and went back to bed.

Until 5:30 a.m., when one of the robbers returned with a rude wake-up call. The gunman, with a new sidekick, smashed through the front door with a concrete block. He went straight for Haight’s bedroom.

Haight says the weapon pressed to his ear convinced him to cough up more cash.

“I swear to God I thought I was going to die,” says Haight. “The worst part of it is that you’re completely helpless, and there’s not a thing you can do about it.”

During the commotion, Haight’s girlfriend managed to dial 911. Police sped to the house, arresting Michael Ford in the front yard and Vincent Frey after a brief chase.

Frey awaits trial on two counts of first-degree robbery. Ford is charged with one count. The other suspect was never caught.

But here’s the rub: Until the case is settled, major crimes prosecutor Mark Lindsay won’t release Haight’s money that police say Frey ditched when he ran.

“In order to show robbery, I have to have evidence that something was stolen,” says Lindsay, adding that if it wasn’t improper he’d be tempted to float Haight a loan. “I have all the sympathy in the world for him.”

Lindsay probably could use photographs and notarized serial numbers of the money. But in this Johnny Cochran age, you can’t put it past some sleazy defense lawyer to try and get the case tossed out because somebody photocopied the evidence.

Lindsay is playing it safe. He wants justice to prevail and it’s hard to blame him.

Haight and Co. aren’t the world’s most sympathetic bunch. They’ve been through the system at various times on an assortment of charges. Even so, nobody deserves to get robbed. Not by any means.

But little Cody is an innocent in the purest sense. To have a 4-year-old subjected to this kind of violence twice in his own home is unthinkable.

Since the robberies, the boy is deathly afraid of the dark. He can’t eat dinner unless the windows are covered.

“I’m scaw-ed,” Cody says in a cute, little-boy voice. “An he said he was gonna kill my dad.”

, DataTimes