Body Shop In Probe Gets Computers Back

Sat., Dec. 5, 1998

By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com (509) 879-7461

A Spokane Valley auto body shop will get its computers back while the county continues investigating the costs associated with a botched road job.

Specialty Auto & Truck Painting Inc. got most of its computer equipment returned Friday after a hearing before Spokane District Judge Greg Tripp. The remaining equipment will be returned next week, after deputies make copies of files they need for their investigation.

Later this month, Carl Hueber, the attorney for Specialty, will get a chance to argue that evidence gained from the computers can’t be used because it was collected with a search warrant that was too broad.

“The affidavit highlighted perceived problems with how the county ran its Safety Loss Department,” Hueber said. “That had nothing to do with Specialty Auto.”

No charges have been filed against Specialty, which received $477,000 from the county to fix cars and trucks that were sprayed with tar and gravel during a resurfacing project on Bigelow Gulch Road last August. County commissioners have questioned some of the repair bills, and have asked state auditors to investigate.

The county Sheriff’s Department is working with auditors.

Sheriff’s Capt. Doug Silver said seizing computers was a normal procedure for any investigation of a company.

“For any business, basically their work is going to be done on computers,” Silver said.

That’s the very reason Specialty needs its computers back, Hueber said. Deputies seized not only its records from these repairs, but all business records, the programs that allow the company to estimate repairs and those that allow the company to communicate with insurance companies. They also seized personal records contained in the machines, he said.

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