Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Man says he was beaten, robbed

From staff and wire reports The Spokesman-Review

Spokane police arrested two people Wednesday after a man said he was beaten and robbed at a North Lincoln Street apartment complex.

Officers responded about 11:30 a.m. to an apartment complex at 1419 N. Lincoln after a 47-year-old man said that he was assaulted with a baseball bat and that two people took $202 from him, police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a news release.

Officers Joe Denton, Brian Bunker, Dave Kennedy and Wayne Downing interviewed 46-year-old Patricia S. Spencer, 28-year-old Sydleon L. Grant and a 19-year-old woman, Cottam said.

Officers said they learned that the three people had the four $50 bills that the 47-year-old man said had been taken from him. The officers then booked Grant and Spencer into jail on first-degree robbery charges. The 19-year-old woman was released, Cottam said.

The baseball bat was held for evidence, but officers were not sure whether it was used to assault the 47-year-old man or for self-defense, Cottam said. The investigation is continuing.

Level III sex offender living downtown

A Level III sex offender has been released from prison and is living in downtown Spokane.

Joshua Clint Epperson, 25, had recently been released from prison for failure to register as a sex offender, Spokane Police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

Epperson previously was convicted of third-degree rape of a 17-year-old female. He was also convicted of indecent liberties with two 14-year-old girls, Cottam said. He also has convictions for theft and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Epperson is 5 foot 8, 165 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He has a tattoo on the right side of his neck.

He is living on West Second Avenue and is prohibited from being near anyone under 18. Epperson will remain under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections for the next three to four years.

Because of his history, Epperson is considered a high risk to re-offend, Cottam said.

Injured Mead worker remains in hospital

A man injured last month in a construction accident near Mead remains hospitalized.

Loren Miller suffered head injuries May 19 when he fell about 8 feet into a trench and hit the edge of a concrete drywell.

He was taken by helicopter to a downtown Spokane hospital and transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was listed in serious condition Wednesday.

Miller was working on a reservoir construction project for Wesslen Construction. Spokane County Water District 3 is building the reservoir near Florida Lane, south of Sorrel Lane.

The state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating the accident.

Three people found shot to death

Shelton, Wash. A man and two women were found shot to death in a house near here Wednesday in what may have been a case of domestic violence, a Mason County sheriff’s officer said.

The dead were believed to be a young man and his wife, as well as the wife’s mother, sheriff’s Inspector Dean Byrd said. They were not immediately identified late Wednesday.

The man’s father called emergency dispatchers after he went to the home Wednesday afternoon to check on his son because he had not seen him since Tuesday afternoon, Byrd told KOMO-TV. The son was temporarily living with his father in the Olympia area.

Peering in a window at the home of the wife’s mother, he saw his son’s bloodied body and went across the street to a neighbor’s house to call for help.

Sheriff’s officers entered the house with a search warrant and found the bodies, as well as a handgun near the man’s body.

Jackpot winner will try to keep anonymity

Boise

The winner of the 10th-largest Powerball jackpot in history will likely try to remain anonymous, Idaho Lottery Commission Director Roger Simmons said Wednesday.

The winner, known to the public only as a single Boise man in his early 30s, has 180 days to claim the winnings and another 60 to figure out whether he’ll take the $220.3 million prize in a lump sum or in 30 annual installments.

“He’s trying to get his affairs in order and we’re trying not to rush him, to let him do what he needs to do,” said Simmons, who talked to the man Wednesday morning. “I’m still hopeful that we’ll be able to go ahead and do the big check and the press conference and let him get it out of the way.”

State lottery rules require disclosure of a winner’s name upon presentation of the winnings, although there has never been a legal test of the requirement.

Chuck Strutt, the director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, said almost all states require lottery winners to disclose their names, though some winners have been creative.

“There’s a few lotteries that allow a blind trust to be used, although reporters could probably just go down to the courthouse to find out who those winners are,” Strutt said. “It is nice to remain anonymous, but nearly all winners get through this process and survive just fine.”

Simmons said he would prefer that the winner reveal his name because it helps maintain the integrity of the game and generates good publicity for the lottery.

“I told him I was getting tons of requests from people who want to fly him back to New York, wine him and dine him and interview him,” Simmons said. “But he’s seeking outside advice on that. Even though we differ on the publicity angle, it is certainly not an adversarial relationship. He’s a nice individual, very pleasant to talk to.”

The winner has already found a legal adviser and is seeking a financial adviser, Simmons said.