Craigslist leads to stolen items
A boyfriend and girlfriend who used Craigslist to find two stolen motorcycles led Spokane Valley police to more than 100 items of suspected stolen property Wednesday.
Someone called the pair in response to their posting and said they should look for their bikes at 2714 N. Park Road, where they spotted the bikes and called police, according to the Spokane Valley Police Department.
The property crimes task force raided the home Wednesday and arrested Brandon J. Ferrall, 30.
Along with the stolen bikes, investigators found property stacked to the ceiling in Ferrall’s garage, including power tools, mountain bikes and flat-screen televisions, according to police.
Ferrall was booked into the Spokane County Jail on two felony charges of second-degree taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission, according to police.
Coeur d’Alene
Cruise boat drifts, hits light
A cruise boat that stopped for a fireworks display on Lake Coeur d’Alene last Friday drifted off course and hit a navigation light, shearing it off along with its pilings, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department reported.
During the fireworks, the cruise boat Spirit of Coeur d’Alene drifted to the north end of the lake, between the mouth of the Spokane River and Cougar Bay, said sheriff’s Sgt. Matt Street. The captain hit the navigation light after trying to right the course, he said.
“They were just kind of bobbing around in the area,” Street said. “It was dark and cloudy, and they just didn’t see the piling.”
The green navigation light, detailed on maps as No. 37, was lit, Street said. The light was posted atop a band of five pilings strapped together, all of which were sheared off, Street said. A sheriff’s dive team will examine the area next week to determine whether they pose any underwater danger.
The cruise boat was not damaged, and no one was injured.
King County
Obama’s birthplace disputed
Thirteen Washington residents are trying to keep the state’s votes in the Electoral College from going to Barack Obama with a lawsuit that claims he wasn’t born in the United States and has another legal name.
The group filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court on Thursday asking for an order to bar the 11 Obama delegates to the Electoral College from meeting on Dec. 15, based on a theory similar to an unsuccessful lawsuit that tried to get the Democratic nominee’s name removed from the ballot just before the Nov. 4 election. Both lawsuits claimed Obama’s birth certificate from Hawaii was suspect, a claim the campaign and state officials from Hawaii deny.
The state countered that the secretary of state doesn’t have the authority to investigate a presidential candidate’s qualifications, and must accept the nominee of the Democratic or Republican Party.
A copy of the lawsuit is posted at www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs /elections/2008/blog.
Spokane County
Level 3 sex offender moves
A level 3 sex offender, considered the most likely to reoffend, has moved to the 4500 block of East Fourth Avenue in Spokane, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
David W. McKibben, 36, was convicted of solicitation to commit second-degree rape in Spokane County in 2002, according to the Sheriff’s Office. His victim was an adult woman who was a stranger, the Sheriff’s Office said.
He remains under Department of Corrections supervision but is not wanted by police.