In brief: More suspected in Valley arsons
Though two juveniles have already been arrested in connection with last Wednesday’s early-morning arson spree, Spokane Valley Fire Department and Spokane Valley police think more people could be involved. Investigators are asking for help in identifying more crimes.
Six arson fires occurred early this Wednesday after juveniles stole bundles of Spokesman-Review newspapers and then lit them on fire at various locations, said Spokane Valley Fire Department Chief Mike Thompson. Two 16-year-olds were arrested for the arsons and were still in Juvenile Detention on Wednesday afternoon, facing multiple arson charges.
After interviewing the suspects, more information surfaced that indicated the teens could have been involved with as many as 30 crimes, including rocks being thrown through windows and mailboxes being smashed, said Spokane Valley Police Chief Cal Walker.
Because of the wide scope of the crimes, police are asking anyone who might have further information to call the main desk at (509) 477-3300.
Spokane
Killer sentenced, will be deported
A man who pleaded guilty earlier this month to killing a 2003 graduate of Lewis and Clark High School was sentenced Thursday to spend most of the next 25 years in prison.
Fernando Trejo-Ramirez, 20, was given credit for the year and a half he has already spent in the Spokane County Jail. He was charged with killing Evelynn Grace Smith on Feb. 21, 2005.
Friends and family testified in an emotional hearing in which they described Smith’s life and even talked about Smith’s last report card, which was five A’s and a B, Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly said.
Trejo-Ramirez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on July 5. He wrote Rielly a letter, which was entered into the record.
“I’m truly sorry for what I did,” he wrote. “Please forgive me. I know I did something very terrible, something that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
According to court records, Trejo-Ramirez cut both of Smith’s arms and her neck while they were inside the bathroom of Room 118 at the Select Inn, 1420 W. Second Ave.
After she bled to death, Trejo-Ramirez moved Smith’s body to the bed. He folded her arms, placed a Spanish-language Bible on her chest and covered her with a blanket.
He told authorities that he met Smith in North Carolina and that he came to Spokane to visit her.
When Trejo-Ramirez completes what’s left of his 25-year sentence, he will be deported to Mexico, Rielly said.
Gypsy leader’s son receives sentencing
Thomas S. Marks, the oldest son of Spokane Gypsy leader Jimmy Marks, has been sentenced in U.S. District Court after entering a conditional plea to a federal firearms charge.
Marks, 44, must serve three months in a community corrections facility, with work-release privileges, to be followed by five months of home detention, as conditions of three years probation.
Marks also must pay a $2,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service under the sentence handed down July 12 by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Frem Nielson.
The U.S. attorney’s office had recommended 27 months in prison.
Marks pleaded guilty on Feb. 9 to possessing a .45-caliber handgun he said he took in trade as a down payment for a car he sold in November 2001. That occurred after Marks had been convicted of assaulting a sheriff’s deputy during a 1999 fight at the Marks family gravesite in Holy Cross Cemetery.
Boise
Idaho ranks fourth in drowning deaths
A lack of fences around backyard pools and lapses in adult supervision is part of the reason Idaho ranks fourth in the nation in drowning deaths per capita, a medical doctor says.
In southwestern Idaho, there have been at least 16 drownings or near-drownings since May 1.
Kenny Bramwell, medical director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center, said in the cases he has been involved with, the parents thought they were watching their children, and they thought they would be able to hear if a problem developed while they were reading or talking on the phone.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Idaho trailed only Alaska, Hawaii and Louisiana in the number of drowning deaths per capita between 1989 and 1998, the most recent years statistics were available.