The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
55°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now
Thomas Clouse

Thomas Clouse

Current Position: reporter

Thomas Clouse joined The Spokesman-Review in 1999. He is currently the business reporter. He previously worked as an investigative reporter for the City Desk and covering federal, state and local courts for many years.

Email
tomc@spokesman.com
Phone
(509) 459-5495
X
X

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Spokane man pleads not guilty to abusing baby daughter

An 18-year-old father pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he abused his infant daughter to the point that she was once diagnosed as brain dead. Tyler L. Jamison, 18, faces a charge of first-degree assault that Spokane police previously said would be amended to murder charges should the 3-month-old girl die.
News >  Spokane

Stevens County school worker sentenced for abuse

The longtime psychologist for the Colville School District was ordered Monday to serve at least 14 1/2 years in prison for molesting one of his students and attempting to molest another. Superior Court Judge Al Nielson sentenced 59-year-old Craig L. Figley to 174 months in prison. However, his case will go before a state board that reviews the sentences of sex offenders, and that board could decide to keep Figley in prison for life, Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen said.
News

School counselor sentenced for molestation

The longtime psychologist for the Colville School District was ordered today to serve at least 14 and ½ years in prison for molesting one of his students and attempting to molest another.
News >  Spokane

Officer accused of using divorce to hide assets

Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. divorced his wife to shield his assets and force taxpayers to foot the bill for his criminal defense, the federal prosecutor in the Otto Zehm case alleged in court documents filed this week. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Durkin filed a motion asking U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle to allow the government to tell the jury in Thompson’s upcoming trial about the divorce agreement, which Durkin called a “fraudulent transfer” under Idaho law.
News >  Spokane

Arrests made in Spokane Valley church theft ring

Spokane Valley detectives made arrests Thursday in a string of thefts at nearly 40 area churches where suspects stole credit cards used to purchase goods that were then traded for drugs. Spokane County sheriff’s Detective Kirk Keyser, who is contracted to work in Spokane Valley, said fellow law enforcement crews hit three homes Thursday, confiscating piles of stolen goods and supplies of narcotics.
News >  Spokane

Dishman Hills homicide suspect arraigned

The man charged with bludgeoning a homeless man to death allegedly told a friend on the day of the killing that he had done something that would be on “the national news.” Roland E. Benton, 34, appeared Thursday before Superior Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark, who set his bail at $500,000. He’s charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of 46-year-old Douglas J. Klages, whose body was found April 30 in the Dishman Hills Natural Area.
News >  Spokane

Dragging death suit settled for $1 million

The driver of a pickup that dragged a college student 13 miles to his death during a 2007 hunting trip to Pend Oreille County has settled a civil suit against him for $1 million. The family of the victim intends to use a portion of the proceeds to fund a scholarship in his name. Justin Sinn, then 17, was never charged in the case. His father, Wendell C. Sinn Jr., 46, of Newman Lake, received a 27-month prison sentence for his part in the death of Jerid Sturman-Camyn, 20. Wendell Sinn tied a noose around Sturman-Camyn’s neck, attached it to the back of his truck and told his son to drive away.
News >  Spokane

Judge to rule on request to bar evidence

The attorney representing police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. has asked a federal judge to exclude any evidence that Otto Zehm had not committed a crime on the night of his confrontation with Spokane police and to exclude the testimony of two young women whose 911 call sparked the incident. U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle in a hearing May 17 is expected to rule on those motions by Carl Oreskovich, the taxpayer-paid private attorney defending Thompson.
News >  Spokane

Spokane officer won’t have city attorneys in Zehm case

Attorneys employed by the city of Spokane will no longer represent Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. in the legal battles stemming from the 2006 death of Otto Zehm, according to a recent court filing. Federal prosecutors have repeatedly raised the issue of conflicts of interest in the city’s representation of Thompson at the same time city attorneys are representing other officers involved in the incident who are expected to testify against Thompson at an upcoming trial.
News >  Spokane

City attorneys no longer will represent Thompson

Attorneys employed by the city of Spokane no longer will represent Spokane Police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. in the legal battles stemming from the 2006 death of Otto Zehm, according to a recent court filing.
News >  Spokane

Family settles dragging case for $1 million

The driver of a pickup that dragged a college student 13 miles to his death during a 2007 hunting trip to Pend Oreille County has settled a civil suit against him for $1 million. The family of the victim intends to use a portion of the proceeds to fund a scholarship in his name.
News >  Marijuana

Spokane infant’s killer going to prison

A judge sentenced an admitted baby killer to 15 years in prison Monday but denied the slayer’s mother a final request: a hug before deputies escorted him away. Jereme J. Bassett, 24, last month pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of 7-month-old Nevaeh Alana Miller, who was the daughter of Bassett’s girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Wilcox. Bassett also pleaded guilty to third-degree assault that stemmed from him choking Wilcox’s 8-year-old son after he learned Nevaeh was brain dead.
News >  Spokane

Murder trial delayed for new appraisal

A mentally ill man, charged with the crossbow slaying of a Spokane woman in 2008, appeared in court Friday, and yet another competency evaluation has been ordered before the case proceeds to trial. Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen previously ruled that Cole K. Strandberg, 24, was not mentally competent to stand trial for the murder of 22-year-old Jennifer Bergeron on Jan. 7, 2008. Strandberg has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
News >  Spokane

Park rapist gets 15-month term

A brain-damaged homeless man could serve either four more months or up to five years in prison based on a sentence Friday for a rape that occurred in broad daylight on a Saturday last May in Riverfront Park. Terry L. Thomas, 54, earlier pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in connection to the incident that occurred May 23. He was sentenced Friday to 15 months in prison and given credit for 11 months already served.
News >  Spokane

Teen makes plea in Spokane slaying

High on methamphetamines, Christopher E. Hooper handed over the knife last year that killed Shannon Cochran, who was standing up to several attackers to defend a friend. Hooper, 19, pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree assault; the charge was reduced from second-degree murder because he didn’t do the actual stabbing on Jan. 16, 2009, and he cooperated with police, Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Larry Haskell said.
News >  Spokane

Burglar found guilty of Spokane Valley murder

An eight-woman, four-man jury took only about three hours Wednesday, including the time to eat lunch, to find a career burglar guilty of murder, ensuring he will never again walk free. David K. Brewczynski, 44, didn’t react except to shake his head at the jury that finally ended his criminal career. The conviction of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and theft of a firearm became his third strike.
News >  Spokane

Charge stands in Zehm case

Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., accused of lying to investigators over the fatal confrontation with Otto Zehm, unsuccessfully sought to get the charge dismissed Tuesday, arguing that he never “swore to tell the truth” during his interview with detectives. Although his defense lawyer, Carl Oreskovich, later insisted that Thompson told the truth during the interview, the distinction was drawn during a hearing in U.S. District Court as part of an effort to get the lying charge thrown out on a legal technicality.
News >  Spokane

Zehm grand jury to hear evidence police changed testimony

Allegations of a cover-up by Spokane police officers over their handling of the fatal Otto Zehm confrontation and the department’s 2006 investigation of the case are being presented to a federal grand jury. In the ongoing obstruction-of-justice probe by the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI, indications are that some Spokane police officers, including Assistant Chief Jim Nicks and lead detective Terry Ferguson, now acknowledge that the city’s earlier characterizations of the fatal encounter were wrong and that its investigation clearing officers of wrongdoing was incomplete and inaccurate. Federal documents filed this week in U.S. District Court also suggest Spokane police altered witness statements to appear more favorable to the first responding officers.