The former security supervisor for The Spokesman-Review pleaded guilty today to three sexual assault charges that could keep him in prison for life. Robert J. Robel, 61, (right) pleaded guilty to first-degree rape of a child, second-degree rape of a child and first-degree child molestation.…
He was known in Nelson, B.C, as the Man from the Bush - a thrill seeker who became a legend in the world of extreme mountain biking while still a teenager. But Sam Brown's young life ended tragically in the Spokane County Jail five months…
A Mexican man will spend more than six years in prison for operating a large marijuana grow that did more than $10,000 damage to the Okanogan National Forest, according to the U.S attorney's office. Moyses Mesa-Barajas, 43, was arrested last August after federal and state…
A 21-year-old Spokane man pleaded not guilty today to second-degree rape of a woman who said she was sexually assaulted at a party.Here's Thomas Clouse's report: "Anthony J. Wilson appeared before Superior Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark, who ordered a sexual assault protection order against…
The Washington Department of Corrections has joined agencies in more than two dozen states in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to allow cell phone signals to be jammed in prisons. Shortly after that was announced, the DOC scheduled media events to demonstrate how DOC…
Check out my story here for new information on the tragic death at the Coeur d'Alene Resort last week. UPDATE: Hambrice's blood-alcohol level was .23, police said Wednesday. The article includes comments from a colleague of Lynea M. Sprung Hambrice at Louisiana State University. What…
The defendant seemed disgruntled as he said "not guilty" after each charge. "Almost done," his public defender whispered to David L. "Cowboy Dave" Harwood, 39. It took Harwood saying "not guilty" 19 times, but eventually his arraignment for a bust connected to a major Sheriff's…
A woman who claims a Coeur d’Alene police officer groped her during a drunken driving arrest last summer has video of the interaction from a police cruiser’s dash camera.But what the 45-minute video (a segment is posted above) means for the lawsuit filed by Coeur…
A man accused of raping a woman in north Spokane was arrested on a similar charge last year but cleared after a jury couldn't reach a verdict. Justin L. Dehn, 22, remains in Spokane County Jail on $25,000 bail after appearing in Superior Court on…
A Shoshone County man who filled his computer with thousands of videos of children being sexually abused will spend the next 10 years in federal prison. Kenneth Jack Hendryx, 58, of Silverton, Idaho, pleaded guilty to possessing sexually explicit images of minors in March and…
Despite apologizing for the drunken crash that killed three Washington State University students and seriously injured three others (shown above), Fred Russell has appealed his conviction and 14-year prison sentence. Read Tom Clouse's story here. Read past coverage of the case here
A man who eluded federal authorities for nearly a month was captured today after U.S Marshals tracked his muddy footprints in northeast Spokane County. Anthony E. Burke, 21, served time in federal prison for possessing ammunition when history of commitment at a mental hospital prohibited…
No material from convicted killer Shellye Stark's former lawyer's files will go to prosecutors seeking a murder conviction against her married boyfriend because the material could be critical to Stark's appeal, a judge ruled today. Spokane County Superior Judge Ellen Kalama Clark dodged a legal…
It didn’t take police long to connect the witness to the suspect: they live in the same apartment.That detail may have helped police solve a series of pizza place holdups over the past two weeks that Spokane detectives think culminated with a robbery at a…
Kootenai County authorities were monitoring local Craigslist postings even before Philip Markoff was charged with murder and with assaulting and robbing women he’d met through the Web site, which offers free classified ads. Their effort highlights a sex market that thrives online and exists all…
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information that helps arrest two men wanted in connection with a July 24 shooting. Police say Timothy “Stoney Boy” Lucious, 38, (left) and Michael “Mikey Mike” R. Gardner, 23, (right) were involved in an early-morning altercation near South…
A judge has overturned a conviction that would have put a registered sex offender in prison for life. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael Price on Thursday ordered a new trial after a juror acknowledged she knew the defendant, Pierre D. West, prior to his…
Two men accused of robbing a payday loan center Monday night met two very different fates today in Spokane County Superior Court. One was jailed on $100,000 bail. The other was ordered released after a judge ruled there was no probable cause to hold him…
A Spokane teenager who fell asleep in a stolen car after asking convenience store customers for help hot-wiring was sentenced to 90 days in jail with credit for 86 days served.Cody A. Gronau, 19, (pictured above in 1996 as a Garden Springs first grader) was…
A Post Falls man will spend at least five years in prison for selling and possessing methamphetamine. Donald J. Hall, 42, was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison with eligibility for parole after five years. Judge Lansing Haynes sentenced Hall, who was charged after…
A mistrial was declared in the trial of a young man accused of raping a woman at a party on Halloween 2007. Kevin A. Thompson is charged with second-degree rape for the alleged attack at a home in the Whitworth University area. Spokane County Superior…
Suspects listed on today's court docket included a man accused of a jewelry scam.Christopher M. Lancaster, 26, was charged in February after police raided Clocktower Jewelry in January, where they say Lancaster was selling jewelry he'd stolen from Dodson Jewelry, where he'd work since July…
A murder unsolved for 12 years in Douglas County may be linked to a man charged in a high-profile Arizona murder linked to a rogue border defense group. Jason "Gunny" Eugene Bush, Jr., 34, faces a murder charge for the killing Jonathan Bumstead, 18, in…
SEATTLE (AP) — The idea of using annoying music to repel loiterers is catching on a some businesses and other locations in the Puget Sound area.Classical music has cleared the parking lot at Saar's Market in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle where crowds of…
A former Bonner County Sheriff’s deputy’s sentencing was postponed Friday in federal court in Spokane when the judge requested more information on the man’s health.Here's Thomas Clouse's report:"James M. Sebero, 59, (shown above in 2008) previously pleaded guilty to defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans…
Public safety news from the Inland Northwest and beyond.
