Deputies witness ‘beer rip’ at 7-Eleven
A Spokane Valley man and woman picked the wrong store to conduct a “beer rip” early Tuesday, apparently not noticing the Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies parked across the street finishing paperwork.
As deputies Daryl Smith and Andy Stockman watched, 21-year-old Jessica D. Treichel got out of a gray Oldsmobile and went inside the Millwood 7-Eleven shortly after midnight. She hurriedly exited the store with a case of beer and got into the passenger side of the car which sped away, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan.
The store’s clerk ran out into the parking lot with a phone to his ear, confirming the deputies’ suspicion that they were witnessing a theft in progress. The deputies took off after the vehicle which accelerated up to 70 mph northbound on Argonne.
The deputies activated their vehicle’s emergency lights and sirens, but the driver failed to yield and turned west on Maringo, where he began using the entire width of the two-lane road. The vehicle was still going 70 mph in the 25 mph residential street, nearly hitting a parked car.
At Bessie Road, the car turned north and abruptly stopped in the middle of the roadway. The deputies ordered the occupants out and a male back-seat passenger complied. The female then exited followed by the male driver, Kevin P. Ehlert, 20, 5120 S. Linke Road.
After handcuffing the suspects, the deputies determined that Ehlert was aware that Treichel was going to steal rather than buy beer at the 7-Eleven. The other passenger, a 20-year-old Spokane Valley resident, appeared to be unaware of the pending theft. He was released.
Smith cited Treichel, 1606 S. Pines Road, for third-degree theft and released her.
He arrested Ehlert for attempting to elude a police vehicle, a felony, and also arrested him on misdemeanor counts of theft and driving while license suspended. The driver also had a previously-issued misdemeanor warrant which was served as well.
Woman victim of Internet scam
A 49-year-old Spokane Valley woman is out $5,500 after she was bilked by a romance scammer she met on the Internet.
The victim reported that she met the suspect on the MySpace Internet site a month ago. The man claimed to be at his vacation home in London, England, but that he lived in Miami. He said he was about to leave for Nigeria, where he was under contract to build a soccer stadium.
The suspect said he needed funds to cover a conference and expenses during the trip, and the victim wired him payments of $2,100, $1,400, $400 and $1,600. The man said he would fly to Spokane where they could meet and he could repay the “loans.”
The victim used an Internet search program and the suspect’s e-mail address to learn that he is a “scammer” who has used the London/Miami story many times to defraud unwary victims.
Internet fraud suspects frequently use romance as a motivator to bilk their victims out of cash. Lonely men or women become attached and trusting of suspects they meet on the Internet, and then fall for their stories about needing money or a loan for one thing or another.
These scams are generally not investigated because of jurisdictional issues, and the victims almost never recoup their losses.
Man jailed on outstanding warrants
A Spokane Valley man found himself in a heap of trouble Friday night after the vehicle he was in was stopped because neither he nor the driver were wearing seat belts.
Leonard R. Bye was riding in a 1986 Ford Explorer about 7:40 p.m. Friday when he and driver Jeffrey J. Gapen were spotted not wearing seat belts.
Deputy Dave Morris stopped the vehicle at Interstate 90 and Broadway, and checked Bye’s name through police records. He learned that the passenger was wanted on five outstanding arrest warrants charging him with violation of a domestic violence court order and four counts of driving while license suspended.
Morris cited and released the driver for the seat-belt infraction, then had Bye transported to the Spokane County Jail for booking on the warrants. There, officers found a small baggie of methamphetamine in Bye’s clothing.
Bye was booked on a new felony, possession of controlled substance, as well as the five warrants. He also received a $124 infraction for failure to wear a seat belt.