Duncan moved to Indiana prison

Condemned murderer Joseph Duncan has been transferred to the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute, Ind., that houses the federal death row, but Riverside County, Calif., still is working to bring the killer there to try him in another case.

“There is some paperwork that we need to complete and get approved,” said Michael Jeandron, spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office. “When we get it all sorted out, we’re going to go pick him up and bring him back.”

Riverside County is seeking the death penalty against Duncan for the 1997 kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez. Duncan received three death sentences in federal court in Boise in August for the kidnapping, molestation and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene, of Coeur d’Alene, which occurred after Duncan terrorized the family and murdered the child’s mother, older brother and mother’s fiance. He kidnapped the family’s two youngest children, and only one, Dylan’s then-8-year-old sister, Shasta, survived.

Duncan’s court-appointed lawyers filed an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of his death sentences, but Duncan himself said he didn’t want to appeal; the appeals court hasn’t yet ruled on whether the appeal can proceed.

The Riverside County case can go forward while the federal appeals process is in progress.

Betsy Z. Russell

Spokane Valley

Gasoline cleanup nearly complete

ExxonMobil is nearly finished cleaning up 3,400 gallons of gasoline that spilled from a holding tank at its Spokane Valley distribution center in November.

Gas soaked into the soil to depths of 15 feet, but didn’t reach the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, said Mike McCain, who works for the Washington Department of Ecology’s spills program. The aquifer is the source of drinking water for 500,000 people in the region. It lies about 60 feet below the ground’s surface.

ExxonMobil is vacuuming the remaining gasoline vapors from the soil. The cleanup is about 95 percent complete, McCain said.

“We certainly regret that this happened, and we’re working diligently to clean it up,” said Patty Errico, a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. in Houston.

On Nov. 3, maintenance workers sheared a small pipe that was part of a temperature gauge on a tank that holds about 1.6 million gallons of gas. The workers noticed the leak and reported it, McCain said.

Spokane County

ID theft allegation lands son, 31, in jail

A Post Falls man accused of stealing his father’s identity to obtain a loan for $12,000 reportedly gambled away his ill-gotten gains at a casino.

The man’s father told police it was at least the second time his son had scammed him, and this time his son needed to be held accountable, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dave Reagan.

James D. Almond, 31, was booked into jail Thursday on one count each of first-degree identity theft and theft, Reagan said.

Almond, who shares the same first and last name with his father, allegedly used his own driver’s license and his father’s Social Security number to get the loan from Citibank Financial, Reagan said. Almond told the bank he needed the cash to get married.

Almond was arrested after Citibank called authorities to report fraud because Almond had made two bad payments, Reagan said.

Jody Lawrence-Turner