Valley man, 39, faces DUI charge
A Spokane Valley man, who is under investigation in three states for taking money from residents for construction work that he may have never intended to provide, was arrested Thursday on unrelated charges.
Sam Cover, 39, was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants and possessing cocaine after his estranged wife contacted law enforcement, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said Thursday night.
Spokane Valley police detectives are investigating more than 50 claims that Cover, who operates ICS Steel Buildings, has taken money to construct pole buildings but then did little or no work, said Spokane Valley police Sgt. Dave Martin. Cover is accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from residents in Eastern Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
In the early 1990s, Cover was sentenced to 85 months in prison for bank robbery and other crimes similar to the ones for which he is now being investigated, Martin said.
Spokane Valley detectives first suspected in December 2005 that Cover wasn’t fulfilling contractual agreements regarding the pole buildings. Detectives have been contacted by 50 alleged victims, Martin said. The thefts are thought to have occurred throughout 2005.
“We are early into the investigation,” said Martin, adding he anticipates more victims to come forward.
Reports regarding ICS Steel Buildings have been filed with the Washington Attorney General’s office and the state Department of Labor and Industries.
Helped by GPS signal, rescuers find hunters
Two missing hunters, who were trying to find missing hunting dogs, were found Wednesday night, according to the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office.
Jake Lourey, 22, and Adam Weske, 22, from the Kingston area, left their home at about noon on Tuesday, and by nightfall they realized they were lost.
Search teams located the men by tracking the signal emitted from a device used for locating missing hunting dogs. Lourey and Weske were treated for hypothermia at Shoshone Medical Center and released.
Olympic gold medalist to speak at NIC
Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills will speak at North Idaho College at 7 p.m. Thursday as part of a human rights celebration.
Mills, an Oglala Sioux from South Dakota, stunned crowds at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo by winning the 10,000-meter run. No other American has won gold in that race.
That victory and Mills’ path there is the basis of the 1983 film “Running Brave,” which airs at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on the city of Coeur d’Alene’s cable channel 19.
Mills’ talk will be in the Schuler Auditorium at NIC. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children; some scholarships are available. The event is sponsored by the Coeur d’Alene School District and Human Rights Task Force on Human Relations.
For information, call Skyway Elementary at (208) 664-8998.