Shaved-head kidnapping case reaches resolution

The final of five suspects pleaded guilty Thursday to kidnapping in connection with a case where a woman was tied up in a Spokane hotel and had her head shaved before being dumped in a rock pit by her assailants. Desiree N. Walling, 31, pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping as part of an Alford plea, which acknowledges prosecutors could likely prove the charge. She also agreed to plead guilty to first-degree and second-degree trafficking in stolen property as part of a separate sentence that will run at the same time as the kidnapping incarceration. “You got yourself involved in a bad situation here,” Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza told Walling. The crime occurred on April 3, 2011, when victim Doreen Wiker said she was inside a room at the Select Inn, 1420 W. Second Ave., with two of the suspects. Walling entered the room and became angry with Wiker for spending time with the men. The assailants accused Wiker of stealing money from friends. During the abduction, the suspects tied Wiker to a chair, cut off her clothes and her hair and they wrote “thief” on her forehead. During the time she was held overnight, one of the suspects, Russell A. Rosin, threatened Wiker with an ax and a gun, defense attorney Matt Harget said. The next day, one of the suspects drove Wiker to a rock quarry and abandoned her. A motorist found the distraught Wiker walking along Cheney-Spokane Road and drove her to a local hospital. Rosin, 37, previously pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to nine months in prison. Matthew T. Watkins, 26, who tied up Wiker, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Garth F. Haskins, 31, pleaded guilty to riot and was sentenced to 43 days in jail. The other suspect, Waylon M. “Creeper” Azure, 34, previously received 51 months in prison after the reputed gang member — who uses a wheelchair — pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and second-degree assault. “My client is willing to take responsibility for her involvement in this event,” Harget said of Walling. Two of her three children, ages 14, 12 and 11, remain in state custody and the father has the third. Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Mark Cipolla noted that Walling had no previous felony convictions “but it appears that drugs played a significant part in the defendant’s life.” When judge Cozza asked Walling whether she had a drug abuse problem, she replied: “Not really. I just was around people who did. I’m not addicted.” When pressed on whether she used drugs, she agreed that she had “in my past.”