In brief: Man accused of injuring infant
A 40-year-old Spokane man was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging him with shaking his girlfriend’s 5-month-old grandson, hospitalizing the infant with a brain injury.
Keith Byron Woody remained in jail Friday night in lieu of $25,000 bail on a charge of second-degree child assault.
Superior Court documents say the victim, Jamarion L. Woticha-Bell, was injured Sept. 22 after his 16-year-old mother, Crystal Bell, went to school and left him in his grandmother’s care.
Bell and her baby lived with her mother, Loretta Croxton, in an apartment at 2309 E. Euclid Ave. Croxton’s 11-year-old son and her boyfriend, Woody, also lived there, according to court documents.
Croxton reportedly told police that she left the infant alone with Woody while she kept a doctor’s appointment.
She said Woody told her everything was fine when she called him 1 1/2 hours later, and she could hear the baby cooing in the background, Spokane police reported.
Court documents say Croxton told officers she called Woody about the same time that Woody told them he noticed the baby’s body go rigid and then limp. Police said Woody told them he started CPR while getting a neighbor to drive him to Holy Family Hospital.
The baby was still hospitalized 10 days later, with bleeding of the brain and eyes. A police report at that time said the victim was to be released soon, with an uncertain long-term prognosis, and placed in foster care.
Quick arrest in coffee stand robbery
A 21-year-old man was arrested Thursday night less than an hour after he allegedly robbed the Bean Me Up espresso stand at 8625 N. Nevada St.
Joseph Calvin Knapp was booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery when a Bean Me Up clerk identified him as the man who robbed her. Court documents say police found Knapp in an apartment at 401 E. Magnesium Road, where they had gone to interview another possible suspect.
The 21-year-old clerk told police Knapp approached the espresso stand with another man about 5:50 p.m., told her he had a gun and demanded money.
Court documents say the clerk believed Knapp had a gun and gave him about $300, including a $100 bill. Officers found a $100 bill in Knapp’s pocket when they arrested him.
Youth award nominations being taken
The Chase Youth Commission is now accepting nominations for the 2007 Chase Youth Awards. They would like nominations to be submitted online at www.chaseyouth.org. Forms are also available. The deadline is Wednesday, Jan. 31.
Named after former Spokane Mayor Jim Chase, the Chase Youth Awards recognize youth, middle school and teen contributions in citizenship, community service, courage, creativity, diversity, leadership and personal achievement.
This year the nominees will be honored at a public ceremony at Whitworth College on Tuesday, March 27, said Joanne Benham, director of youth services for the city of Spokane. All nominees will receive certificates. Top individual recipients will receive letters of commendation, and top group recipients will receive a plaque. The city’s youth services office can be reached at (509) 625-6440 for more information.
TACOMA
Man sentenced for stolen military items
A Pierce County man was sentenced Friday to six months in prison for buying military equipment stolen by Fort Lewis soldiers, and then offering it for sale online and at gun shows.
Mykel D. Loftus, 46, of Graham, also was fined $7,500.
U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess also put Loftus on three years of supervised release after he serves his sentence, and deferred restitution, which could amount to more than $1 million if ordered.
Loftus pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to possess stolen government property.
Loftus came to the attention of investigators when they found him using an Internet auction site to try to sell items they suspected were stolen from the military, the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle said in a statement.
Investigators recovered eBay Inc. sales records showing Loftus posted more than 2,300 items on the auction site between January 2003 and March 2004 that sold for more than $51,000.
The items included such things as food rations, chemical lights, sunglasses and body armor.
Prosecutors said Loftus also led investigators to property he owned in Idaho, where he had buried ammunition.
Seattle
Gregoire insists on tunnel vote
Gov. Chris Gregoire has given Seattle officials an ultimatum on a replacement for the decrepit Alaskan Way viaduct: No vote, no tunnel.
Unless city residents are able to vote before the end of the legislative session on April 22 about what to do with the 2.2-mile section of state Route 99, “it’s over,” Gregoire said Thursday, “because then I will instruct the (state) Department of Transportation to move forward with” a replacement viaduct.
The 53-year-old two-tier structure, a vital waterfront artery and north-south traffic alternative to Interstate 5, was damaged in the Nisqually earthquake in early 2001, and engineers say it may not survive another major quake.
In local squabbling over one of the state’s biggest transportation projects, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has argued strenuously for a $4.6 billion tunnel, others have favored a teardown and construction of a new $2.8 billion elevated highway, and some maintain that the existing viaduct can be less expensively stabilized and refurbished.