Man cleared, teenage girl in custody in threats case

A Spokane man is back at home after being wrongfully accused of using computers to threaten and stalk a family on the city’s northeast side.

Now, investigators believe a 13-year-old girl is responsible for the threats against her own family members over the past week.

The girl, whose identity was being withheld, faces two felony cyberstalking charges and is being held in the county juvenile detention facility, Spokane police said Sunday.

The victims’ identities also were being withheld.

Cleared of wrongdoing in the case is 49-year-old Dean Dunn, who was arrested Wednesday night by Spokane police and booked into the Spokane County jail.

But police said the threatening messages continued.

It wasn’t until the weekend that police cleared him of any connection to the case.

“Dunn had no knowledge of the victims, and Spokane police have no reason to suspect he had any involvement in this case,” Spokane police Cpl. Tom Lee said in a statement early Sunday.

It was unclear why police initially suspected Dunn of the threats, or what prompted them to begin investigating the girl.

Calls to the Police Department on Sunday afternoon and evening were referred to Lee, who did not return messages left for him.

The case apparently was reopened during the weekend.

Lee said officers searched the 13-year-old girl’s home Saturday in northeast Spokane, then took her into custody after the search.

It was unclear what, if anything, officers discovered.