Trial set for landlord accused of rape

A Spokane landlord accused of raping a 35-year-old woman will face trial Nov. 7.

Arlin R. Jordin, 58, is charged with second-degree rape and indecent liberties. The woman said she was drugged and raped after joining Jordin at his house for drinks in November.

The two each had a margarita and then a shot of whiskey, according to a court records. After swallowing the second drink, the woman said she started to feel she had become “really intoxicated.”

Jordin “leaned over and put his arm around her and tried to kiss her on the mouth,” according to the report. “She told the defendant she didn’t want him kissing her, and she doesn’t remember anything after that point.”

Police received dozens of complaints from women who had met Jordin, alleging drugged drinks, inappropriate conduct and rape dating back to 1987.

Man gets three months for beating wife

A Spokane man who assaulted his wife for five hours, beating her unconscious, is to report to jail Thursday to begin serving a three-month sentence.

Dale Eugene Stovall, 50, pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree assault, attempting to tamper with a witness and violation of a no-contact order. A first-degree kidnapping charge was dismissed.

Stovall and his wife, Jeannie, had gone to the Broadway Tavern on Nov. 27, where they drank and he fared poorly in a pool tournament, according to court documents. When they went home early the next morning, he began to beat her for what she thought was retaliation for an incident earlier that month in which a court ordered him to stay away from her after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault.

Jeannie Stovall told police her husband told her, “You’re not gonna come out of this one alive.” She said he beat her in the face with closed fists until she passed out. When she revived, he choked her, threw a lamp into her face and beat her with his fists and household objects over the course of five hours.

Police said they found the victim severely injured when she called for help after her husband left the home.

The sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins was the low end of Dale Stovall’s standard range. His standard maximum would have been nine months. He had credit for 23 days already served.

House damaged by fire started by child

A fire started by a 7-year-old neighbor caused extensive damage to a north Spokane home early Tuesday afternoon, the Spokane Fire Department reported.

Crews were called to 2607 E. Cleveland Ave. about 12:40 p.m. A mom, her two children and a child she was baby-sitting escaped without injury, Battalion Chief Bruce Moline said.

The fire, which started outside the home, made its way in through a window, causing about $10,000 damage, Moline said.

The home is rented to a family of four. Most of their belongings were saved, but the house was not habitable Tuesday night, Moline said.

The young neighbor confessed to using a lighter to set a mattress on fire in a shed attached to the home, Moline said. A fire education official with the department will meet with the boy.

According to the Spokane County Assessor’s Office, the home is owned by David B. Cecie.

Authorities praise prompt Amber Alert

An Amber Alert issued promptly after the alleged abduction of a 4-month-old North Idaho boy led directly to his recovery, according to law officers.

Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds requested the alert about 12:15 p.m. Monday. It was issued by 1 p.m.

Within three hours, a Forest Service employee working on a fire spied the suspect’s Toyota pickup heading east on Interstate 90 outside of Missoula, according to sheriff’s officials.

Authorities arrested the baby’s father, Jason Richard Hurt, who had allegedly hit the child while trying to hit his estranged wife as she was ending a visit and trying to leave with the boy. Hurt had allegedly then abducted the child.

Hurt has been charged with felony injury to a child and felony domestic battery, and is awaiting extradition back to Shoshone County.

Reynalds had been critical of the state’s Amber Alert system because it took 3½ hours to alert the public when Shasta and Dylan Groene were discovered missing from their home near Wolf Lodge Bay on May 17. There mother, brother and mother’s boyfriend were found beaten to death with a hammer.

Procedures were changed after the Groene case.