Crime/Public Safety

Spokane police were looking for suspects in two robberies downtown Wednesday evening.

One man was arrested for a shooting that was reported at an apartment complex in the Nevada/Lidgerwood neighborhood. 

Trever Daniel Harder was sentenced Thursday to 27 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release by authorities after pleading guilty to two counts of child sex trafficking in June. Harder met Kylie Ruby Flores, 32, on the internet dating application "Plenty of Fish" in February 2021 and negotiated Harder's access to the girl in exchange for a place to stay for the girl and Flores, according to court records. Flores pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking charge and is serving a 23-year sentence at a federal prison in West Virginia, according to court records. 

Jason Ayers was sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison in November for child rape. 

Investigators are looking to speak with the occupants of a white 2011 to 2013 Hyundai Elantra seen near the house where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death last month.

Thirty vehicles caused a pileup on Interstate 90 with minor injuries on Wednesday morning. 

A 40-year-old man who was shot by Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies in January was found guilty last week of threatening violence on school grounds and assaulting police with a deadly weapon.

Gonzaga University head baseball coach Mark Machtolf will spend one day in jail and serve two years of probation after his charge from a DUI arrest earlier this year in Reardan was amended to reckless driving as part of a plea agreement.

Spokane police arrested a man downtown after he fired a handgun about a dozen times, according to nearby witnesses. 

A driver was arrested after they collided into a snow plow truck on State Route 904 near Cheney, Washington State Patrol said. 

Julia “Grandma” Green, 82, testified that Maurice Codd’s lawyers told her “money was no object in the case.”

Moretta Rose Johnson is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Arizona on Dec. 16, facing obstruction of justice and kidnapping charges. A Spokane County Sheriff's deputy performing a "knock and talk" at an Airbnb on Thursday found Johnson and the eight girls, all of whom had run away from group homes in late November following the arrest of Samuel Rappylee Bateman. Bateman is described in a 22-page complaint filed by FBI Special Agent Dawn Martin as a self-proclaimed prophet in the FLDS church, an organization once run by convicted child rapist Warren Jeffs. 

Police were initially called to the scene on a report of a suspicious vehicle around 12:30 p.m. in the 1300 block of East Illinois Avenue near the intersection with North Morton Street, said Spokane Police Lt. Terry Preuninger.

A private investigator substantiated 15 allegations related to work performance against former Chewelah Police Chief Ryan Pankey before the mayor fired him in October, records show.

Douglas Brant worked tirelessly with his patients — often adding another one to his already full schedule — while still carving out time to teach youth guitar lessons. Sometimes, he combined his nursing and musical skills by picking up and playing a guitar in a patient's home to connect with them.

A 56-year-old Colville woman died in a head-on collision Friday afternoon on U.S. Highway 395, 10 miles north of Spokane.