Spokane7
50°
June 17, 2010 in City
Developer enters not-guilty plea
Joseph G. Ward, right, appears in court with his attorney, Richard Bechtolt, on Wednesday.
(Full-size photo)
A Spokane land developer pleaded not guilty to several felonies related to an alleged drug and stolen property ring investigators believe he ran from his Long Lake home.
Joseph G. Ward, 62, founder of Pinnacle Realty, is charged with two counts of first-degree theft, seven counts of first-degree possession of stolen property and one count of possession of a stolen motor vehicle connected to a SWAT team raid at his Long Lake home on Jan. 7, 2009. Ward was arrested that day and spent the night in jail.
Washington State Patrol spent months investigating alleged criminal activity ranging from insurance fraud and stolen property possession to methamphetamine trafficking and videotaped orgies with prostitutes.
Ward and his lawyer, Richard Bechtolt, declined comment after the arraignment.
Meghann M. Cuniff
Man dies following early Saturday accident 
DEPRESSED on July 29 at 12:46 p.m.
so is it against the law to videotape orgies as long as every one is a consenting adult, and if not then why must they keep bringing that up, that stuff isn’t illegal sounds like there just trying to hang the poor bastard, i mean have these prostitutes came forward and if so lets hear there names. if there has been any laws broke then are they not also guilty, and shouldn’t there good names also be all over the news, so if he is accused of video taping orgies then what law is it that he broke? sounds like he had an active if not interesting personal life, so what. .