Two arrested on robbery charges
Two central Washington residents were arrested Thursday afternoon on robbery, burglary and theft charges in connection with a Moses Lake home robbery last week.
Octavio Manuel Rangel, 20, of Moses Lake, and Lynsey A. Kerr, 18, of Othello, were arrested in the parking lot of the Moses Lake Wal-Mart after a Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputy recognized them and the vehicle they were driving from photographs allegedly connecting them to an Aug. 22 apartment robbery, according to a Sheriff’s Office press release.
A 12-year-old girl who witnessed the robbery at 7826 Rainier Road had reported that two Latino men used a handgun to blast through the front door of the house, according to the release. Once inside, they took two television sets, a DVD player, money and CDs.
The witness also described an alleged accomplice – a white female with blond hair driving a white vehicle similar to a Dodge Neon or Plymouth Breeze.
Rangel was booked into the Grant County Jail on charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of unlawful imprisonment and first-degree theft, according to the release.
Kerr was booked on charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and first-degree theft, the release said.
A third burglar is still at large.
Anyone with information may call the sheriff’s office at (509) 754-2011, ext. 468, and press 1 then 0 at the recording.
Spokane
Deputies: Thefts paid for drugs
A woman who thought she’d figured out “the best scam in town” got caught Thursday.
She told sheriff’s deputies she supported her heroin habit by going to retail stores, stealing DVDs, then selling them for cash at a store that purchases used items, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan. On Thursday, she didn’t make it out of the store with the items.
Deputies were called to the North Division Costco when the woman was spotted leaving with about $289 worth of movies and music, Reagan said. Maegen P. Meyers, 25, was booked into Spokane County Jail on a charge of second-degree theft.
Day-care provider accused of fraud
Authorities have arrested a former Mattawa day-care provider on fraud charges for allegedly charging the state of Washington for services never provided.
Erika Del Carmen Lara was arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, based on charges of theft of public funds, according to an indictment released Thursday. A federal grand jury in Spokane handed down the indictment last week, the U.S. attorney’s office in Eastern Washington said.
According to the indictment, Lara billed a federally funded day-care program more than $1,000 for child-care services she never provided and sought meal reimbursements of less than $1,000 under another federal program while living in Mattawa in 2001 and 2002.
The latter charge, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine, while the first charge carries a 10-year sentence and $250,000 fine.
The indictment is the first in a long-running federal investigation of day-care providers in Mattawa. The inquiry sparked two lawsuits accusing state and local officials of violating the civil rights of other Hispanic day-care providers in Mattawa.
The lawsuits stemmed from an investigation by the state Department of Social and Health Services into alleged overpayments of state and federal money to subsidize child care for low-income families.
RUPERT, Idaho
Methane plant expanding
A company that turns dairy cow manure into methane is expanding to produce enough gas energy to power 5,000 homes.
Intrepid Technology and Resources Inc. is adding an additional eight digester tanks to handle manure from 6,500 cows at Whitesides Dairy near this south-central Idaho town.
“We think this could be a very viable addition to natural gas availability in America,” the company’s president, Jacob Dustin, told the Times-News. “Each dairy in Idaho could become a source for alternative energy.”
Earlier this week, Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, visited the facility to see how the methane is produced.
Wayne Tolman, the plant’s manager, said the manure is pumped into large digester tanks. The tanks are then heated to about the temperature of a cow’s body. Naturally occurring bacteria then begin a chemical action, causing methane bubbles to rise to the top of the tanks.
Dustin said the cost of the methane plant is the same as a plant that produces electricity.
About 2,000 cows are the minimum needed to make such a project feasible, he said.
YAKIMA
Group files suit over water law
Several environmental groups seeking to overturn parts of a 2003 municipal water law filed suit Friday, claiming the law allows growing cities to draw more water from the state’s rivers and streams at the expense of existing water rights holders and fish.
The state Legislature passed the Municipal Water Law to provide more certainty and flexibility for water rights held by municipal water systems.
In general, water rights holders who don’t use all their allotted water run the risk of losing the right to use it in the future. Cities are generally immune from that rule, but the bill expanded the definition of “municipal water suppliers” to include public utility districts and other traditional water providers, and also expanded their obligations to conserve water.
The bill was a priority for many cities around the state that wanted to be able to grow into their water rights as they expand. Opponents included environmentalists and Indian tribes, who argued that growing populations might dry up water needed for fish habitat.
Plaintiffs argue the law is unconstitutional because it violates the due process of water rights holders whose water may be reduced as a result of municipalities’ expanded usage. In addition, the Legislature violated due process by enacting a law that does not require the state Department of Ecology to review the potential impact of expanding a municipal water right, they contend.