In brief: Suspect pleads not guilty to rape

A sex offender suspected of killing a 48-year-old Spokane woman pleaded not guilty to a separate rape case Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court.

Derrick Ross Vargas, 24, remains in Spokane County Jail on $250,000 bond after his arraignment before Judge Sam Cozza.

Vargas, who served four years for sexually abusing a minor, is charged with first-degree rape for allegedly attacking a prostitute in his apartment after picking her up on East Sprague Avenue on Sept. 23.

That’s not too far from where Evon M. Moore’s body was discovered on Aug. 13.

Vargas was arrested Sept. 23 after a Washington State Patrol trooper stopped him for driving with a broken taillight and a woman jumped out of the truck and yelled, “He raped me!” according to police.

Vargas was driving a pickup that matches the description of a vehicle caught on surveillance camera early Aug. 13 in the area where Moore’s body was found.

Vargas has not been charged in Moore’s death.

Meghann M. Cuniff

Student made school bomb threat

A 16-year-old boy who attends Lake City High School made a bomb threat at the school Sept. 26 so he could get out of attending math class, Coeur d’Alene police said Wednesday.

A request for a summons for a criminal charge of false bomb threat has been sent to the Kootenai County prosecutor, a police department news release said. The boy’s name will not be released because he is a minor.

Coeur d’Alene Police School Resource Officer Andy Sterling conducted the investigation, which included interviewing students and watching hours of surveillance tape. The suspect’s friends told Sterling that the boy left the note at the school.

The police department asked the prosecutor’s office to seek restitution for personnel expenses related to the response and evacuation of students from the school that day.

Alison Boggs