Plane-Crash Inquiry Wraps Up

FOR THE RECORD: 11-10-00 Story incorrect: Cheney Police busted a potential meth lab last week when officers investigating an alleged rape at an apartment complex found chemical odors instead. A story that ran in the South Side Voice Nov. 9 incorrectly stated why officers were initially on scene.

The FAA is expected to complete an investigation today into a plane crash near Spangle on Nov. 2. The operator of the privately owned plane missed a private runway and instead landed in an adjacent field.

The plane apparently hit the plowed field on its wheels, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, but flipped over when the wheels became stuck in the dirt.

Responding deputies found the plane upside down with the passenger door open.

The FAA advised them that the pilot, who was not on scene when deputies arrived and has not been identified at this time, was not injured during the crash, Sheriff’s Inspector Dave Wiyrick said.

The plane, a 1977 Cessna 172, has one propeller and seats four people, including the pilot.

Fight call leads to meth bust

Cheney Police busted up a potential meth lab last week, when officers investigating a fight found chemical odors instead.

An officer responded to the Rosebrook Inn, 304 W. First, to investigate a report of an assault, Police Chief Greg Lopes said. When the officer did not locate a suspect or victim, he started interviewing other residents, and in the course of talking to one man, detected a faint chemical odor coming from a nearby apartment, Lopes said.

Suspecting a methamphetamine-manufacturing operation, the officer got a search warrant, Lopes said. Upon entering the residence, officers found equipment and chemicals typically used to make methamphetamine, including cooking tools and bulk-quantities of matches and cough medicine.

The lab might have been used to make meth just three days prior, Det. Rick Campbell said.

Police are looking for the resident of the apartment, 31-year old Anthony Magee. They suspect Magee has fled the area, possibly to the Tri-Cities area, Lopes said.

The discovery came as a surprise to inn owner Vicki Wehgeler, who said that Magee had lived in the room for a year and apparently held down a job.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I mean, he was spotlessly clean and always paid his rent,” which was $450, she said.

She said that two weeks before the police search, however, Magee rented another room for two men from Seattle, one of whom police arrested on related charges.

Dusty W. Evans, 44, was booked into jail on a charge of obstructing police after running away when police attempted to question him regarding the meth lab. He also was booked pending a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. The other man, however, is not a suspect at this time, Lopes said.

Meanwhile, Department of Ecology officials found the rental unit free of contamination from dangerous meth fumes, Wehgeler said.

Anyone with information on Magee is asked to call Det. Campbell at 235-7269.

Trickster arrested

A teenager was arrested and charged with stealing candy on Halloween, according to the Spokane Police Department.

The 18-year-old and a friend allegedly confronted a 14-year-old trick-or-treater Oct. 31 because he didn’t have a costume, Police Spokesman Dick Cottam said. The teenager took candy from the younger boy’s bag and then dumped the rest of the treats on the ground, Cottam said. The boy’s mother reported the incident to police.

Martin J. Hill was cited on city theft, a misdemeanor.

In other Halloween news, police reported a significantly larger amount of illicit pumpkin bowling on Freya Street, and city crews had to clean the street with a snowplow because of the slippery pavement from pumpkin innards.

Burglary investigated

Police investigated a break-in and burglary at the Manito Exxon Food Mart at 518 E. 29th about 5 a.m. Monday, Cottam said.

An employee found a window had been smashed with a rock, and that cigars, cigarettes and beer were missing. Police gathered some evidence from the scene, Cottam said.

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