Police take blame in bad arrest

Oh, the headaches a disgruntled 13-year-old girl, a wireless Internet network and a botched police investigation can cause.

The Spokane Police Department took responsibility Thursday for a desperate, but faulty, investigation that resulted in the mistaken arrest of a man on Valentine’s Day night for Internet threats made against a local family he had never met.

The girl, who is part of that family, has admitted making those threats under the guise of an adult rapist and killer named “Marko” because she said she wasn’t getting enough attention at home, according to court records. She is now facing felony juvenile charges.

But up until late Thursday, police officials refused say whether it was a detective or Qwest employees who provided the incorrect information that led officers to arrest 47-year-old Dean Dunn, of Spokane, who spent almost 24 hours in the Spokane County Jail.

“The Spokane Police Department has determined that it is responsible for the mistaken arrest of a city resident last week in a ‘Cyberstalking’ incident,” department spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee said in a news release sent late Thursday.

Dunn could not be reached Thursday for comment.

The case began Feb. 12 when the family, which lives at 538 E. Hoffman Ave., began receiving threats while they chatted on MySpace.com. The suspect talked about sexually assaulting the females in the house and about pouring gasoline on their home to burn it down, according to court records.

“I’m Going to Get You and Chop Your Whole Family in Little Pieces,” one of the threats stated.

Officers arrived on Feb. 14 to investigate a possible burglary and the ongoing threats. Soon after, the cyberstalker mentioned the investigators in later postings.

“I Saw Those Cops At Your House,” the stalker said, according to court records. “Yea I Was Watching The Whole Thing. Don’t Think I Don’t Sit Around and Watch Whats Going On. I Watch All Day Long.”

As the threats escalated, Detective Bryan Tafoya contacted MySpace.com’s Law Enforcement Compliance section and told them about the threats from someone who used Qwest as an Internet provider. The stalker claimed to be 47 years old, used the e-mail address ” yenko509@yahoo.com” and had a MySpace heading of “Don’t Ever Forget the Day I was in 911.”

Tafoya traced an IP address through another Web site and through Qwest, learning the IP address had been assigned to Dean Dunn, who is 47, according to court records.

In Dunn’s profile “on MySpace.com there is a prayer called the Policeman’s Prayer and the person references law enforcement and 9/11,” Tafoya wrote in his arrest warrant.

However, somehow investigators were either using the wrong IP address or used the wrong time, Lee said.

“Unfortunately, the detective used the wrong piece of information from MySpace to identify the computer used in the crime,” Lee said in the news release.

The mistake became apparent when the threats continued after Dunn’s arrest.

Officers returned to the home last Saturday morning after more threats were made. The threats came from the MySpace.com username “Marko Last Name if Needed Dunn.”

But this time, investigators were able to trace the messages to an IP address in the family’s own home. Someone was using a Qwest wireless system at the East Hoffman home.

When confronted, the 13-year-old girl “admitted that she had not been getting a lot of attention at home recently and that she had created the first and second suspect profiles,” court records state.

It’s not known whether the girl obtained information from Dunn’s MySpace page to target him. Lee did not return a page late Thursday seeking further comment.

After the girl was arrested, Maj. Scott Johnson and Sgt. Brad Arleth called Dunn to convey their apologies, Lee said in an earlier interview. Dunn took the call but would not allow them to come to his house.

Dunn has since retained an attorney, Bryan Whitaker, who also could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“The arrest was made in good faith based on probable cause that existed at the time,” Lee said in the release. “Steps have been taken to prevent this from happening in the future.”