Three teens arrested on impersonation
Sheriff’s deputies have arrested three north Spokane County teenagers for a series of traffic stops they made July 9 while impersonating law enforcement officers, reports the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Aleksey Lysenko, 18, and two brothers, 14 and 17, were each arrested for second-degree criminal impersonation, a gross misdemeanor.
Deputies were alerted to the suspects’ activity by a woman who said she was alone on the Newport Highway about 1:15 a.m. when a car pulled up behind her. The driver activated his high beams and she saw red and blue lights coming from the passenger compartment.
Believing she was being stopped by the police, she pulled over and stopped. However, as the male occupant approached her car, she decided he was not a real officer and rolled up her window. About the same time, her husband who had been slumped down and sleeping, awoke and sat up. The suspect approached her window, looked inside her car and then walked back to his vehicle and drove past her stopped car. She was able to get the suspect’s license plate.
The woman believed the suspect was startled by the sudden appearance of her husband.
Deputies Jeremy Howe, Chad Ruff and David Westlake tracked the suspect’s car to his home on North Chesapeake. Interviews with Lysenko revealed that he and the two younger teens had made three traffic stops using red and blue lights.
In one instance, one of the suspects had jumped from their car brandishing an imitation .45-caliber Airsoft pistol, apparently to intimidate a carload of teens they had stopped.
The suspects said their only intent was to warn the drivers they stopped for various traffic violations they had observed, according to the Sheriff’s Office report. One suspect did say that he wanted to be a police officer in the future.
The deputies seized the Airsoft pistol and the suspects’ red and blue lights as evidence. They cited Aleksey Lysenko and released him upon his signature, and referred both of the brothers to the Spokane County Juvenile Court.
Prosecutor’s office drops reckless burning charges
The Stevens County Prosecutor’s Office decided not to pursue charges against a developmentally disabled Loon Lake woman who allegedly started the 460-acre fire in the Jump Off Joe area last August.
Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen dropped reckless burning charges against Heidi M. Day after she testified in court July 10, according to news reports.
Day allegedly started the fire outside her friend’s home late last summer when she went to burn some trash. She claims she did not know there was a burning ban in Stevens County in effect at the time. The fire consumed four homes and 14 outbuildings.
More than 200 firefighters were on the ground and planes were needed to control the large fire.
New online system patrols construction sites
Spokane County builders and contractors can now take an additional step to help safeguard their worksites by registering them on the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Web site.
A new online system to record building locations or addresses is up and running. The Web site feature allows builders and contractors to log in and securely enter their current worksites. This information will allow deputies, Spokane Valley police officers, SCOPE and Neighborhood Watch volunteers to track areas that need regular patrols to reduce incidents of theft and vandalism.
Builders can set up an account at www.spokanesheriff.org.
Ultimately, contractors and builders have the responsibility for security of construction sites and equipment and materials stored there. The new system will help keep patrol deputies informed regarding new areas of construction that can use additional attention.