Robber Binds Up Tavern Worker, Steals Cash

A robber wielding a rifle or shotgun bound an employee at a Valley tavern early Friday before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of money.

The robber came into the Blue Keg Tavern at the corner of Pines Road and Trent Avenue about 7:30 a.m. wearing a scarf over his face. He forced the employee to open the cash register and safe, and then bound him with duct tape, sheriff’s deputy David Reagan said.

Customers who came to the tavern a few minutes after the robbery freed the employee, who was not hurt.

The suspect was described as a white male, 5-foot-10, 160 to 180 pounds, and in his 30s. He had light-brown or dirty-blond hair and a goatee, and was wearing a red stocking cap, a brown heavy winter coat and light-colored pants.

No getaway car was seen or heard, Reagan said.

Thieves drive into security guard

Deputies are searching for a man and woman who ran their car into a store security guard Friday while running from a Valley hardware store after stealing a carbon monoxide detector and thermostat.

The 25-year-old security guard was not seriously injured during the 4:30 p.m. incident at Home Base, 9718 E. Sprague.

Both suspects were seen driving east on Sprague in a powder blue, 1970s foreign-model station wagon, Reagan said. The car had a Washington license plate similar to 291EJD.

The security guard chased the man to the waiting car after he saw him hide the carbon monoxide detector and thermostat under his left arm and hurry out of the store, Reagan said.

When the security guard stepped in front of the car and identified himself, the woman drove at him, hitting him in the left shin, Reagan said.

The security guard dove out of the way and partially pulled open the passenger door as the car went by, Reagan said. The man pulled the door closed and the car sped away, narrowly missing another car when it left the parking lot.

Hitting the security guard with the car upped the charges the two face from shoplifting to robbery, Reagan said.

The man was described as white, 30 years old, 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, with brown hair. A description of the woman was not available.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.

Stolen car smashed, trio arrested

Three people who deputies said took a stolen car for a joy ride, ramming it into Dumpsters, signs and mailboxes, were arrested last Thursday on theft and malicious mischief charges.

Oleg V. Baron, 20, and Alexandre Y. Abramenko, 22, were booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of first-degree theft and first-degree malicious mischief. An unidentified teenager was taken to the Juvenile Detention Center and faces the same charges.

Residents near Mission Avenue and Barker Road called the sheriff’s department about 2 a.m. and complained that a Honda Civic was slamming into a Dumpster and parking lot fixtures at the Barker Learning Center, Reagan said.

The car then ran over street signs and mailboxes as it left the area eastbound on Mission followed by a second car, Reagan said.

Deputy Walter Loucks followed a trail of engine fluids to the 19000 block of East Mission where he found the Honda, which was heavily damaged, in the roadside ditch. The car, which had been reported stolen from a North Side home earlier last Thursday, was unoccupied, but still running, Reagan said.

Loucks saw the second car parked in a nearby field, and questioned Baron, Abramenko and the teenager, who told the deputy they did not speak English. A Russian-language interpreter helped deputies continue questioning the three suspects, and they were later arrested.

, DataTimes