Briefly

Men tell cops they robbed drug dealer

Two men were arrested this week after they told police officers that they robbed a drug dealer of a bag of narcotics.

At about 10 p.m. Wednesday, 31-year-old Darrin Michael Hodge and 19-year-old Raymond Lee Brummett were walking near Madison Street and Carlisle Avenue when officers approached them, police spokesman Dick Cottam wrote in a press release issued Friday.

Hodge and Brummett quickly separated and walked away from the officers, Cottam wrote. Officers stopped the two men and discovered that Hodge was wanted on warrants from Lewiston, Idaho, and Asotin County, Wash.

According to Cottam, Brummett was carrying a purse that contained several types of drugs, including methamphetamine.

Brummett told officers that he had heard that someone was going to rob a known drug dealer so he decided to rob the drug dealer first, Cottam said. They allegedly took her purse, which contained the drugs and $30.

Hodge was carrying a small aluminum bat and a stun gun in one pocket. Both men were booked on charges of first-degree robbery and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, Cottam said.

Police have yet to hear from the woman whose drug-filled purse was stolen and is now sitting in the department’s property room, Cottam said.

Motorcyclist dies after crashing into stop sign

A man died Friday night after crashing his motorcycle into a stop sign in a neighborhood north of Whitworth College.

Seth Seger, 21, of Medical Lake, was eastbound on Woodway Avenue on a 2003 Aprilia motorcycle. He was attempting to slow near where the street dead ends into Wall Street when the accident occurred about 8:30 p.m., said Spokane County sheriff’s spokesman Dave Reagan.

Seger apparently recently had gotten the bike, Reagan said. He came to the neighborhood with another person and unloaded the bike from a pickup on Friday evening, Reagan said. Before the crash, he had been riding the motorcycle in the neighborhood.

Reagan said that it appears that speed was a factor in the crash. The speed limit on the street is 20 mph.

Stolen car’s passenger faces theft, drug charges

A man found in a Chevy Blazer that police believe was stolen at gunpoint Thursday afternoon has been arrested, the Spokane Valley police reported.

The Blazer allegedly was stolen from a woman in the 1400 block of East Fairview Avenue, police said.

Later on Thursday, a Spokane Valley police officer saw the vehicle when patrolling at Maple Tree Motel and RV, 4824 E. Sprague Ave., police said. While the officer was trying to get information about the car, the driver of the vehicle fled on foot from the Blazer.

A passenger in the Blazer, Dustin J. Myhren, did not try to escape, police said.

Police found a bag of methamphetamine under the seat in the Blazer. Police spokesman Dave Reagan said officers discovered that Myhren and the driver came to the motel and RV park to sell meth.

Myhren, 903 E. Glass Ave., was booked into jail on charges of first-degree possession of stolen property and possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

The driver’s whereabouts was unclear Friday night.

Police get new report of impersonating officer

Spokane police have received a new report of someone impersonating a police officer.

Earlier this week, officers arrested 34-year-old Michael K. Bonthuis and charged him in connection with a Sept. 11 incident in which three people were pulled over at gunpoint in High Bridge Park.

Bonthuis, who was identified with the help of Airway Heights officers, was arrested Tuesday on the charge of unlawful imprisonment because he allegedly handcuffed one of the three victims.

On Wednesday, a woman told Spokane police that she was stopped on North Division by a man in a truck with an overhead light bar just before noon.

The woman said the man asked for her driver’s license, then went back to his car. He returned with the license and then left, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The woman was shaken and did not write down the license number. She said he was driving a full-size brown truck with large fenders.

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

Man gets 54 months for robbing woman

A Spokane man has received a 54-month sentence in connection with a vicious robbery this year that left an 89-year-old Spokane woman with a fractured skull.

Gilbert A. Hicks, 25, and Michael G. Baldwin, 33, have both been convicted of robbing Belle Ensminger of her purse outside her home at 2527 S. Tekoa on Feb. 26.

During the incident, Ensminger was pulled to the ground and suffered a fractured skull.

On July 12, Baldwin waived his right to a jury trial and agreed to have a judge hear the case. On Aug. 12, he was found guilty of first-degree robbery and first-degree theft and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

However, Hicks opted to have a jury trial, which was Sept. 15. The jury found Hicks guilty of first-degree robbery, possession of a controlled substance and car theft.

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor sentenced Hicks to 4 1/2 years in prison.

According to court records, Baldwin has filed an appeal regarding his longer sentence.

Reward offered in gas-theft case

Secret Witness is offering a $200 reward for information that finds the culprits of at least 10 gas thefts in the Spokane area.

The thieves have stolen hundreds of gallons of fuel since May from Spokane-area gas stations by interfering with gas pump electronic control systems while the gas stations are closed.

The stations hit by the thieves include:

• Devine’s Fast Mart, 10222 N. Division St., lost 200 gallons on June 1.

• Conoco, 5504 N. Maple St., lost an unspecified amount in three incidents starting in May.

• Tesoro, 28312 Newport Highway, lost 250 gallons of diesel and 350 gallons of gas on June 20. It also lost 230 gallons of diesel and 360 gallons of gas on July 9.

• Shell, 2910 N. Division St., lost 140 gallons on Aug. 31.

In at least one incident that was caught on tape, two thieves pumped the gas into tanks in the back of a four-wheel-drive Ford F-250 pickup from the mid-1970s. The truck was mostly white, but the passenger door and half the hood was painted red. It had clearance lights on the cab, but only one was lit. It also had white spoke wheels.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Secret Witness at 327-5111. People who give information do not have to give their names to receive the cash reward.

Secret Witness is a civilian organization that is not affiliated with law enforcement

Fog delays flights at Spokane airport

More than a dozen flights were delayed Friday morning because of fog at Spokane International Airport.

The conditions wouldn’t have normally been a problem, but the alternate runway in use at the airport now does not have the sophisticated navigational equipment of the airport’s main runway, said airport spokesman Todd Woodard.

“We don’t have a precision approach on the alternate runway,” Woodard said.

The main runway is now being resurfaced and is expected to reopen by Nov. 3.

All told, 15 flights were affected by the low visibility Friday morning.

Landings were impacted from about 7:15 a.m. until 10:35 a.m. and take-offs were affected from about 7:55 a.m. to 9:35 a.m.

Many passengers waited onboard planes for the go-ahead to take-off, Woodard said.

By mid-morning, however, flights returned to their regular schedules.