Two men charged in a major cocaine ring were to appear in federal court today.Maurisio Ramirez, 29, and Gilberto Acevedo-Adame, 31, have been in Spokane County Jail since Aug. 12 on three federal charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. Court documents…
Police released a description of a suspected killer Monday, two days after a man was stabbed to death in a Spokane parking lot.William “Billy” O. Floyd, 22, died after police found him unconscious and barely breathing in a parking lot at West Indiana Avenue and…
Crime Stoppers is offering rewards for information that leads to the capture of the four pictured below. In honor of this interactive feature from Newsweek magazine, can you match the crime with the mug shot? Click on the link below for the answers.Alleged crimes: first-degree…
A Spokane man who stockpiled what federal prosecutors described as a “troubling” arsenal of illegal weapons will spend the next four years in prison. Ronald L. Struve, 67, was also sentenced today in Seattle to two years probation and ordered to undergo mental health treatment.…
Courtroom dwellers, beware. That yawn could cost you. Here's the AP story of an Illinois man who discovered that first hand: JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois judge has freed a man who had been in jail for three weeks after letting loose a loud yawn…
A bondsman accused of forcing an old man to give him $6,000 appeared was scheduled to plead innocent today in Spokane County Superior Court. Ryan M. Holmes, 46, of Holmes Brothers Bail Bonds, was charged in a case his lawyer calls a "civil dispute run…
The driver of a van that slammed into pickup last week, killing a Mead woman, was drunk and speeding at the time of the crash, according to a search warrant.Lucian G. Brisan, 29, faces a vehicular homicide charge for the Aug. 7 crash that killed…
A scandal police say bilked a rental owner out of more than $15,000 ended with 20 theft charges filed against a husband and wife hired to managed two Spokane apartment complexes. Trial for Theresa M. Walters, 33, scheduled to begin Aug. 21, but police can’t…
A woman with a criminal history so extensive a prosecutor told a judge she has "more experience with misdemeanor citations than all of us combined" is back in jail on a charge she knows well: theft. Nearly eights years after Lawanda R. Hopkins-Sparks, 57, stole…
One woman. One trailer park. A string of suspicious fires. These elements converged in a probable cause affidavit that led to the arrest of a Spokane woman Tuesday. Carol J. Haloburdo, 53, is in Spokane County Jail on $20,000 bond, charged with second-degree reckless burning…
A Spokane jury got its first glimpse Wednesday of the past sex crimes and current violent sexual fantasies that persuaded state officials to try to keep Shawn Dale Botner in custody for the rest of his life. The state wants to civilly commit Botner, 36,…
A Spokane County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday there was no probable cause to charge a man arrested in connection with a shooting in a Spokane fast-food parking lot last week. But Jason M. Giles will remain in Spokane County Jail on District Court charges.…
A woman who sometimes grows a full beard as a symbol of her activism for human rights is back in the Spokane County Superior Court system after a police officer said she grabbed his left testicle.Paula K. Reynolds-Eblacas, 42, was convicted of stalking in 2006…
Last night, police found a man with stab wounds his mother said were inflicted by his girlfriend.Today, a 35-year-old man was sentenced for the stabbing death of his cousin last year.In each case, police responded to the same location - the 1400 block of West…
A bounty hunter accused of forcing an elderly Spokane man to give a bondsman thousands of dollars was released from jail on his own recognizance today.Brian D. Steenhard, 38, is charged with first-degree theft and obtaining a signature by duress or deception after a 70-year-old…
Police say the man pictured above tried cashing a stolen check on July 16 using a identification from a wallet stolen five days earlier. Employees at Washington Trust Bank, 407 N. Sullivan Road, didn't cash the check but found the man's image in their security…
The prosecutor in the case against convicted killer Shellye L. Stark's married boyfriend said after a judge denied him access to key witness material that he still has a case. (Read about that here.) A judge will soon decide if that's true. Brian L. Moore's…
A Spokane woman who defrauded the Idaho Medicaid program of more than $200,000 will spend 2 1/2 years in prison. Candace J. Elmer, 53, operated a psychosocial rehabilitation center, Behavioral Intervention Services, which illegally billed Medicaid for services Elmer didn’t provide or wasn’t authorized to…
The wedding will go on.A judge today ordered a groom released on his own recognizance after his bachelor party turned into a bar brawl early Sunday.Groom Brandon N. Peterson, 27, and Shad E. Armstead, 22, were released from Spokane County Jail this evening after appearing…
If it seems like just last week that Thomas Clouse was reporting on a former Spokesman-Review employee being sentenced for a sex-related crime, that's because it was.Here's Clouse's report on the sentencing of a former employee of The Spokesman-Review, who received a 12-month suspended sentence…
Not that there's ever an appropriate place for the Aryan Nations, but if they're going to insist on calling a North Idaho town home, a place called Athol seems a bit fitting. (This is not an affront to the fine people of the tiny town…
Police declared the man’s death an accident in less than a day. After a night of hard partying in downtown Coeur d’Alene, four young people booked a room at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. One, a 21-year-old Spokane man, never left. He fell to his death…
A landlord shot to death by a tenant in Coeur d'Alene two years ago should have been trained on how to deal with dangerous renters, a lawsuit filed this week claims. Bette Fears, 67, died Aug. 8, 2007, when Evelyn Botto (right), 44, shot her…
A teenage girl has admitted to killing her father in his Spokane home last year. Jacqueline A. Wortham, 18, faces 22 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder. Her sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 16. Daniel Wortham, 39, lived with his…
The prosecution calls him “a threat to the administration of justice.” His lawyer says he’s the victim of a civil dispute turned media circus. Whatever the case, the legal problems for a Spokane bail bondsman accused of forcing a customer to give him thousands of…
Public safety news from the Inland Northwest and beyond.
