Meth allegedly funded remodel

A Spokane Valley man’s planned house remodel landed him in jail Friday.

Daniel A. Flaherty, 30, is accused by law enforcement of trading drugs for stolen construction materials. He was allegedly stockpiling items – such as vinyl siding, windows and light fixtures – to remodel his home at 2209 S. Calvin Road.

The Spokane County Sheriff Office’s Property Crimes Taskforce has been investigating a spate of construction site thefts in recent months. The thefts are an ongoing problem. In 2003, the Sheriff’s Office handled more than 100 incidents of theft and vandalism reported at construction sites.

On Thursday, detectives followed a 31-year-old man, identified as Hugh A. Shawgo, 2512 S. Riverton, to Flaherty’s house.

Shawgo allegedly left stolen light fixtures and a window with Flaherty and got methamphetamine in exchange, said sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.

Shawgo was arrested as he drove away from the swap, Reagan said. Shawgo allegedly admitted to committing 24 construction site burglaries and thefts around the area. Detectives recovered thousands of dollars of stolen property from the suspect’s home, a storage unit and a vehicle, Reagan said.

A crowd of children from the neighborhood peered down the driveway Friday as detectives searched the tidy home on Calvin Road. The house backs up to Sunrise Elementary School. Neighbors said Flaherty bought the house only a few months ago.

Flaherty was arrested Friday at his workplace, Dellen Wood Products, Reagan said. He was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a charge of delivery of methamphetamine. Stolen property charges are also possible, Reagan said.

Flaherty has a 1999 conviction for possessing a controlled substance and a stolen firearm.

Les Root came to the Calvin Road address Friday to reclaim vinyl siding that was stolen a month ago from a Liberty Lake construction site. Root owns Root Contracting, a small subcontractor that does siding work. Root said the $1,300 worth of siding was at the job site one night and gone the next day.

Root has had items stolen from construction sites in the past. Insurance companies often won’t cover the loss, he said. Before Friday, he’d never had the stolen property recovered.

“They did a great job of finding him,” Root said.

Detective Doug Marske, of the property crimes task force, said he thinks Friday’s arrests will help reduce the construction site theft epidemic, but he believes others are responsible as well. The investigation is ongoing, Marske said.