WSP raids home, seizes property

Tucked in the trees on Peone Bluff is a handsome, two-story stucco home that overlooks a burgeoning collection of trash, spare parts and – according to the Washington State Patrol – stolen property.

A convoy of WSP troopers raided the home Wednesday morning and arrested 46-year-old Roland “Skip” Franks on several felony counts. His girlfriend, 48-year-old Margie Mulvey, and 28-year-old Raymond Peterson were also detained.

At another north Spokane County location, troopers arrested 44-year-old Lucas Cassidy and confiscated a farm tractor and a trailer. Those stolen items had been at Franks’ home Tuesday, police said.

All four suspects were booked on charges of first-degree possession of stolen property, WSP Detective Major Bambino said.

“It’s basically a dumping ground for stolen property and junk,” he said of Franks’ property, which is off Kronquist Road overlooking the Peone Prairie. “It’s sad to see a piece of property like this. It’s just a shame.”

Franks inherited the house from his father, who was killed in 1999 in a construction accident. He said the raid Wednesday caught him by surprise.

“I don’t think it’s very fair at all,” said Franks, as he was handcuffed inside a patrol vehicle, “because I haven’t done anything wrong. That’s why.”

The house didn’t have electricity. Franks and Mulvey were using Peterson’s generator to pump water, Bambino said.

Asked if he had a criminal record, Franks replied: “Only in the last five years, since I’ve been in Spokane.”

More than a dozen vehicles were parked or stowed on the property between piles of junk.

“I’m a mechanic,” Franks said. “I buy cheap and fix them up and sell them.”

However, troopers found several stolen license plates, a stolen 1999 GMC pickup and a stolen utility trailer at the house Wednesday.

They also charged Mulvey and Franks with possession of drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine, Bambino said.

Margie Mulvey said she’s been separated for four years but is still married to Spokane County Deputy Ron Mulvey. She claimed that Raymond Peterson brought all the stolen property to the house.

“I told Roland to tell (Peterson) to get it out of here. Roland was going to tell him today that he needed to leave,” Margie Mulvey said. “He just doesn’t have the heart to tell anybody what to do.”

Bambino, a detective with the WSP’s Eastern Region Auto Theft Task Force, called the raid a success. Police confiscated the 1999 pickup, a utility trailer, the farm tractor and another trailer.

“We were able to get back a whole lot of stolen property that we were able to return to its owners.”

Neighbor Tami Martin, 35, said she was concerned when she saw the WSP troopers driving into Franks’ three acres.

She had a run-in with Mulvey a year ago, after Martin stopped letting her use the telephone.

“She said, ‘I’ve got a gun, and I’m not afraid to use it,’ ” Martin said. “I’ve just been mortified with them living there.”

Martin said she and her husband moved to the remote location because they kept getting property stolen from their home on Rockwell Avenue in Spokane.

“You move out here and think you are safe, but you really are not,” she said.