Truck driver dies in rollover crash
A man was killed Tuesday afternoon in Lincoln County when his semitruck rolled.
Lawrence E. Schlicker, 63, was northeast of Wilbur on Rantz Road when the truck he was driving westbound left the gravel road, rolled and struck a tree on the driver’s side, the Washington State Patrol reported in a press release. Schlicker, of Moses Lake, was dead at the scene.
The truck was carrying propane, but no fire was reported, the WSP said. A passenger, Marcus A. Anderson, 44, also of Moses Lake, received minor injuries, the WSP said. Both men were wearing seat belts. The WSP said the crash was caused by a soft shoulder, which gave way when the truck drove over it.
Man pleads guilty to smuggling women
A Korean national has pleaded guilty to smuggling 13 South Korean women and one man across the Canadian border, U.S. Attorney Tom Moss announced Tuesday.
Bum Suk “Michael” Kim, 33, entered his plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Coeur d’Alene. Earlier this month, Sang Yoon “Steven” Kim, 29, of Surrey, B.C., entered a guilty plea to the same charge. The two men are not related.
Bum Suk Kim said he was being paid $300 to $350 for every person smuggled into the United States. Sang Yoon Kim was arrested April 3 after the RV he was driving was stopped by Border Patrol agents who had been tipped off by an informant.
The agents found the aliens lying on beds and on the floor of the RV’s cabin. Sang Yoon Kim said he picked them up just south of the Moyie River Bridge after another man guided them on foot across the border. He told the agents that their destination was Los Angeles, and that he had made three prior smuggling trips from Idaho to Los Angeles earlier in the year, according to Moss.
Sang Yoon Kim had driven to North Idaho with Bum Suk Kim from Los Angeles, and he had left Bum Suk Kim at the Coeur d’Alene Casino and Resort in Worley while he went to Boundary County to pick up the South Koreans.
Bum Suk Kim faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
State suspends EMT in child porn case
An emergency medical technician found guilty of possessing child pornography is being blocked from practicing his trade in Washington.
The Washington state Department of Health has suspended the EMT certification of Christopher J. Twelves, as well as his registration as a nursing assistant. He was employed as an EMT by American Medical Response in Spokane until the company let him go in February, department spokesman Donn Moyer said.
A federal court found Twelves guilty of possession of child pornography May 13. Twelves pleaded guilty in court but didn’t cooperate with the Department of Health’s investigators on the case, Moyer said.
Twelves has 20 days to respond to the department’s suspension and is entitled to a hearing. A final decision on his status as a health care professional will be determined at that hearing, which could be held in as soon as 10 days or as late as two months or more.
Rainier rangers recover two climbers’ bodies
Ashford, Wash. The bodies of two climbers were brought down Mount Rainier on Tuesday afternoon, a day after being spotted by rangers.
The two were spotted Monday but rangers had to turn back because of nightfall. A helicopter returned Tuesday morning to drop three climbing rangers near the bodies, at about 8,200 feet elevation on the Muir snow field, just off the east flank of Paradise Glacier, said Patti Wold, a park spokeswoman.
Tim Stark, 57, and his nephew, Greg Stark, 27, both of Lakewood, failed to return from a planned weekend trip to Camp Muir, at the 10,000-foot level of the 14,411-foot peak, supervisory ranger Mike Gauthier said Monday. The men set out on their trip Saturday but a heavy snowstorm hit the area over the weekend. Gauthier said the men may have become disoriented by the storm. Tim Stark’s wife reported them missing Monday.
Wold said neither was dressed appropriately – one wore shorts and the other cotton pants.