In brief: Ceremony planned for boys’ rescuers

The family of two boys who were rescued by a Spokane County sheriff’s helicopter crew last month will be thanking the crew at a special ceremony on Monday.

Volunteer pilot Dave Valenti and Deputies Chad Ruff and Brandon Armstrong will be recognized at the North Spokane Library Branch, 44 E. Hawthorne Road. Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich will attend.

Spokane Search and Rescue teams and the sheriff’s helicopter, Air One, were called out to assist regular patrol deputies after the boys, ages 7 and 9, went missing Jan. 16 as they hiked in the snowy Pine River Park area in north Spokane County.

The team used the helicopter’s searchlight to find the boys on their second flight over the area. Ruff jumped from the craft as the crew performed a “one skid” landing on the hillside, the Sheriff’s Office said.

He wrapped the 9-year-old with his flight suit after realizing the boy had waded out into the Little Spokane River in a failed attempt to reach homes on the opposite bank, according to a news release.

Apartments evacuated for fire

Firefighters in Kootenai County evacuated several people from their homes after a fire broke out Friday in a Post Falls apartment complex.

One woman, who has not been identified, was taken to Kootenai Medical Center due to smoke inhalation after the fire broke out in the bedroom of her apartment, at 701 N. Compton St., about 6:36 p.m. There is extensive fire, smoke and water damage in her unit, said Jim Lyon, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue spokesperson. Crews found the woman sitting on the ledge outside her second-story apartment.

Crews were able to contain the fire mostly to her apartment, but water caused extensive damage to the apartment directly beneath hers. That neighbor will not be able to return until the damage is repaired. Other residents were able to return to their units after crews determined they were not damaged.

The cause of the blaze was unknown Friday night.

Agents seize 71 pounds of cocaine

Border patrol agents seized 71 pounds of cocaine this week.

Jonathan Darren Smith, 39, is being held without bail at the Spokane County Jail after agents near the Laurier border crossing spotted him on the east side of Highway 395 “frantically trying to climb the snowy berm at the edge of the roadway” about 9:05 p.m. on Wednesday, according to federal court documents.

Smith was dressed in black with a backpack strapped to his chest and one strapped to his back.

Smith was ordered to the ground at gunpoint. He told Border Patrol Agent Eric Forthun that he was returning to Canada after crossing into the United States by foot two days earlier. But Forthun recalled agents discovering snowy footprints near the border a day earlier and suspected Smith was a drug smuggler, documents say.

Investigators found 30 packages of cocaine in the backpacks. Smith had $13 in U.S. currency and $175 in Canadian currency.

Yoke’s manager accused of theft

A Deer Park grocery store manager was arrested on suspicion of theft Thursday.

Renee K. Olson, 47, is accused of stealing more than $1,600 from Yoke’s, 810 S. Main St., by making fraudulent cash refunds when no customers were present. She appeared in Superior Court on Friday afternoon via video from the jail, where she was booked on a second-degree theft charge.

Deputy Dan Dutton was called to the store at 7 p.m. Thursday and reviewed security video of Olson, the night manager, making the refunds.

Store employees believe she’s been making the phony refunds since January. She has since been fired, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Heroin arrest made near school

Spokane police arrested four people Friday on suspicion of selling heroin across the street from an elementary school.

Drug detectives had used a confidential informant to conduct undercover purchases at the apartment, located in the upstairs of a home at 1723 E. Mission Ave., before police raided the place about 1 p.m., said Officer Tim Moses.

The home is near Stevens Elementary School.

“They were literally across the street from that playground,” Moses said. “You can throw a rock and hit a kid.”

Police recovered a small amount of heroin and arrested two men and two women. Their names were not immediately available. Moses said the group sold heroin from the home during the day while children played nearby.

Moses said the suspects had syringes loaded with heroin when police arrived.

“It looked like they tried to unload some of their syringes by spraying them against the wall, but it didn’t work,” Moses said.