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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Woman Jailed For Molestation After Denying Role In Bombing

Associated Press

A judge on Monday ordered a woman, described as a “person of interest” in an explosives case, to begin serving a six-year prison term in an unrelated child-molestation case.

Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Jorgensen revoked bond for Laura Frank, who was convicted April 1 of first-degree child molestation and witness tampering.

Frank, 32, of Tonasket, was sentenced to six years and four months in prison but was released on bond last spring pending her appeal. But she was arrested last week on a warrant accusing her of violating the terms of her release by an attempt to visit her children.

Jorgensen, who ordered Frank held in the county jail, said in a written order that he found “clear and convincing evidence” that Frank violated the terms of release.

Frank has been questioned by federal officers about three explosive devices left at the U.S. Post Office in Republic on Sept. 24.

Officials with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service have described Frank as a “person of interest” in the case. She has not been charged in the post office incident.

Three ball-shaped, fused devices without detonators were found in manila envelopes left in the post office lobby.

They were addressed to Gov. Mike Lowry, Ferry County Sheriff Pete Warner and a former county social worker whose identity has not been released.

The devices did not explode and no one was injured.

A search of Frank’s home turned up a letter matching one that was found with the post-office packages, court records said.

Typewriters from Frank’s home were sent to a federal crime lab for analysis, the records indicate.

In interviews last week, Frank denied leaving the packages in the post office at Republic, about 40 miles east of Tonasket.

Frank contended she was being “framed” after writing to Lowry, Warner and a counselor about a dispute with her husband over visitation privileges.

Her husband also was convicted of child molestation last spring.